


The Affairs of Dragons

by Ubermunchkin



Series: Kayla'Alda-sha [2]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Language, Violence & death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 23,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23097946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ubermunchkin/pseuds/Ubermunchkin
Summary: The Star Wars universe meets a force-wielding dragon.Kayla'Alda-sha traveled from her home world Sanctuary to study the progress of the younger races. She found they had mastered the Force and wielded it with finesse. She went to Korriban to study at the Sith Academy then slipped away and went to Tython to learn from the Jedi.She is now a master Jedi in her own right with her own radical views of the Force and four friends who agree with her. Together they travel the galaxy to eradicate all Rakatan technology.
Series: Kayla'Alda-sha [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1236677
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Kayla'Alda'sha, Master Praven, Lord Vuxoo, and padawan twins Chasnur & Katzen Jaemer learn they must go to Tatooine.

Kayla actually yawned. She glared Chasnur, who started it. Regarding her day by dragon standards, she had just woken up and finished breakfast; but everyone was now yawning. Warden Grall had asked them to go to the Belsavis Maximum Security Area to help subdue rioting violent prisoners. Republic Army General Skylast had asked for help; his troops were being overwhelmed by some new threat. It was a long and boring trip from headquarters to the deep prison outpost.

“Are we there yet?” Katzen asked in an exhausted tone leaning lack-lustered against the bulkhead of the taxi.

Vuxoo laughed. Chasnur punched his twin in her arm. Praven rolled his eyes.

Vuxoo patted Katzen’s knee. “There will be plenty of excitement once we arrive, I am sure.”

“Landing in five minutes,” the taxi driver announced.

“Yeah,” Katzen clapped. “I have to pee.”

“You are a Jedi, control it,” Praven ordered.

“Once a bladder is full, it is full; no amount of Force can convince it otherwise,” the Cathar female argued smugly.

No one was, therefore, surprised that the moment the taxi door opened, Katzen was gone like a shot. The others headed for the only building at the site; everything else was a tent.

They found General Skylast in the infirmary checking on his wounded. When he saw Kayla and Chasnur enter, he beamed happily. That joy changed to shock when the Zabrak Mandalorian and the True Sith entered.

“Warden Grall sent us to aid you,” Kayla announced. “What is going on.”

“Oh, er, um,” Skylast shook his head and focused on Kayla. “When the Imps arrived,” he glanced at the Zabrak and Sith. “When the Imperials arrived, they began opening cells. They were so giddy about making our lives difficult, they didn’t notice the ‘do not disturb’ sign and unleashed a race of murderous psychopaths.

“This group was apparently imprisoned here before we got here. They came out of stasis and immediately organized and began attacking, everyone and everything.”

“Before you got here?” Praven asked.

“Oh, yes, er, the Republic didn’t build this prison, we found it,” the general explained. He wasn’t sure how much was safe to divulge to this mixed group. “There were already prisoners in stasis when we arrived. We just left the cells locked and did not disturb.”

“Who built this place?” Chasnur asked.

The general shrugged. “Don’t know but it was a lo-ong time ago.”

“So, you want us to beat the snot out of these aliens?” Vuxoo asked.

“More beat the life out of them, but yes that’s the general idea.” He frowned. “Am I mistaken or are you a Mando?”

“Was,” Vuxoo answered then grinned naughtily. “Now I am Sith.”

“Stop scaring the straights,” Kayla admonished nudging Vuxoo. “So where do we find these banes of your existence?”

“General,” a private skidded to stop saluting and gasping for air. “They attacked Outpost Five, and we’ve lost contact with the squad there.”

“That’s where you’ll find them,” the general explained rubbing his temples. “Across the valley from here is a cave with an ancient transport device. It will take you close to Outpost Five.” He handed Kayla a card. “This will authorize you all to use it.”

Katzen joined them as they crossed the compound to the cave. Vuxoo explained what was up. They entered the cave and walked to the end past a medical droid.

Kayla came to a stop and glared. “Rakatan,” she growled, spit, and spun on her heels.

“What?” Praven stopped her.

“You are welcome to use that abomination to get where you’re going but I will have nothing to do with it.”

“Are you saying the Rakatans built this place?” Chasnur asked.

“Yes.” Kayla continued back out of the cave.

“We stay together,” Praven announced to the others as he walked with Kayla.

“Then I’ll take us to this Outpost Five,” Kayla explained. She headed back to the headquarters and asked the shocked general for a map of the deep prison showing all the Republic and known Imperial outposts.

Back outside, Kayla marched to the middle of the compound and shapeshifted into her dragon form.

Soldiers and prison guards backed away from the huge creature, some cried out in alarm, some ran for shelter, some just stared, no one seemed to know how to react.

“Now who’s scaring the straights?” Vuxoo asked as she climbed up onto the gold dragon and settled herself between two spinal ridges.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Vuxoo, but Kayla doesn’t seem to care much about what us puny mortals think,” Chasnur said as he settled himself.

“Why do I have to carry all your junk when you do this, Master?” Katzen scrambled up laden with not only her gear but Kayla’s. Chasnur took one of the backpacks and pulled his sister up.

“Because you are her Padawan,” Praven stated. “We’re all set, Kayla.”

“Prepare for lift off,” Vuxoo shouted. “In three, two…” She was cut short when she lurched as Kayla leapt up with a powerful down thrust of her wings.

The blast of air knocked people and tents and equipment over. Katzen squealed in delight.

“We have lift-off,” Vuxoo shouted.

“Southwest by 87 degrees for 20 miles,” Praven called over the wind rushing across the climbing dragon’s back.

Kayla gained altitude enough to clear the cliffs and banked onto the course to Outpost Five.

“Ah, yeah, this is a helluva lot more fun than that stupid transporter,” Katzen shouted gleefully. Her staid brother wouldn’t admit it but he agreed.

They passed over several rocky scarps that separated the sections of the prison before Kayla began circling down to Outpost Five.

They could see small figures that looked up then began shooting. The four on Kayla’s back hunkered down while the shots bounced harmlessly off the dragon’s armor scales. When she was about 20 meters above the ground, Kayla cleared the area of combatants with a gout of fire.

Once everyone dismounted, she shapeshifted back to human form and studied one of the dead creatures. “Oh, great, Esh-kha”

“You know what these are?” Praven asked.

“The Rakatans initially used them as mercenary fighters until they turned against the Rakatans. That’s another story. They tried to eradicate each other but couldn’t. I guess putting them in stasis here was the Rakatan’s answer to the problem.” Kayla looked around. “The good news is that there is probably a Rakatan archive near here.”

“And that archive could lead us to the other ritual sites?” Katzen asked hopefully.

“Exactly. First things first, let’s take care of these things.”

They found one functioning droid left at the outpost. It was able to provide some information about the attack. The datapad of the outpost commander indicated which direction the Esh-kha had come from. Following that lead, they set out across the valley.

The cliffs that separated the fissure areas were riddled with caves, some natural and some made by current or previous occupants. They were able to follow the tracks of the attackers to a specific cave.

This cave started out as a natural geologic feature but once inside, it had been manipulated into a series of rooms. The finished walls and pillars were covered with bas-relief sculptures of Rakatan life and scenes of battle.

Kayla stopped and pointed at one in particular. “That is Tatooine before we got angry.”

Twin suns shown down on a halcyon coastal scene of palm trees and the sea. Rakatans on rafts cast nets into the water and drew them out full of fish while others collected fallen fruit along the shore. Rakatan children played at the water’s edge.

Chasnur studied the scene carefully. “That’s one of your kind,” he indicated a bird-like creature in the distance.

“From a time when we could comfortably co-exist with the Rakatans. Then they got greedy.” Kayla continued.

“Water and trees on Tatooine?” Katzen was amazed. She spun and brought up her light saber just in time to deflect a shot from an ambushing Esh-kha. Chasnur Force-leapt across the intervening space and dispatched the attacker, but there were more.

The five Force users quickly subdued their attackers. Kayla held one in a vice grip and glared malevolently into its eyes. “Know me, I am Kayla’Alda-sha. You will tell me everything I ask of you.”

There was a moment of terror in the creature’s eyes before he got control of his fear. “You and I are enemies of the same…”

Kayla shapeshifted and now held the creature in her wing talons. “In this case, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Your people walked at their sides. Your people murdered mine. Tell me all I ask now or die.”

“I will never speak. We…” Kayla ripped his head off and dropped the body.

The others gasped at the brutality of its death.

“Temper, temper,” Praven urged recovering the quickest.

“Why didn’t you let him finish?” Katzen asked uncertainly.

“He would have said, ‘We will eradicate your kind from the universe.’ I’ve heard that rhetoric before; well I heard it in my past life.”

She shifted back to human form and continued deeper into the halls.

“Did they, the Rakatans, build this place as a prison?” Chasnur asked.

“Apparently,” Kayla responded. “When the Republic arrived, they found a ready-made prison and apparently started using it.” She stopped and held up her hand.

There was the sound of a great many feet down the hall that turned a corner. She didn’t shape shift, but when a formation of Esh-kha rounded the corner about 100 feet away, she exhaled fire. There was screaming and panic as they tried to retreat while their commanders tried to make them attack forward through the flames.

When Kayla stopped spitting fire, the four other Force users rushed those Esh-kha still standing. As they rounded the corner, the hall opened up into what was apparently the staging area for the Esh-kha companies.

“We could use another round of fire,” Chasnur shouted.  
“Vuxoo, get back here.”

The mando-sith was in the middle of a group of Esh-kha wielding her red blade and shouting about what a glorious fight this was.

Suddenly the room went still and silent, everything frozen, except Kayla. She surveyed her handiwork and considered her next move. “My friends, what I am about to do, none of you will approve. Forgive me but it must be done.” She then walked through the frozen figures killing all the Esh-kha officers. She then faced the room. “ _Surrender or die_ ,” she roared in the language of the Esh-kha.

Fighters stumbled and the dead fell once they were released. The Sith and Jedi kept their sabers at the ready as the Esh-kha rank and file took stock of their situation. Slowly they began laying down their arms.

“ _That’s better_ ,” Kayla sighed. “ _Now for some answers. Who and where is your leader?_ ”

The Esh-kha cast some uncertain looks among themselves before one stepped forward. “ _I am Sharp Tooth. We know you Skydemon. Our leader is Gore Claw. He is deeper within the compound to the east._ ” He indicated back out the way they came. “ _But you are too late, they release the World Razer; it will devour all the lesser races._ ” He indicated those with Kayla.

“Collect their weapons and destroy them,” Kayla told the others. “ _I will spare you. If you are wise, you will return to your stasis chambers._ ”

The group began moving through the disarmed Esh-kha doing as Kayla had ordered. When they were finished, Kayla led them out into the hall then collapsed the ceiling behind them. She left enough openings that those trapped inside would have air. They could put themselves back in stasis if it began to appear no one would rescue them before they died of thirst or starvation.

The group walked in silence for a long time before Praven spoke. “I think I am beginning to understand the anger of dragons. You have very long memories and do not forgive.”

“We will forgive,” Kayla told him. “But first there must be true regret for the actions taken. The Esh-kha do not understand regret; for that matter, neither do Rakatans.”

“It was a glorious fight, I would have liked to have seen how well we would have fared,” Vuxoo said.

“We don’t have time. Sharp Tooth said their leader plans to release the World Razer. We have to stop them.” They were within the light of the cave opening; Kayla was studying the map.

“What is the World Razer?” Katzen asked.

“The only thing the Rakatans did right. The World Razer is a being of immense power, though not Force power. It feeds on the energy of exploding worlds. The Rakatans apparently trapped it here on Belsavis; it must stay here.” Kayla pointed herself in the direction she wanted to go and shapeshifted. “All aboard.”

Finding and securing the World Razer was almost anti-climactic. The Esh-kha leader barely started spouting his rhetoric before Kayla beheaded him with a blast of Force. The rest fell or ran, and Kayla ensured the World Razer would remain sealed away for another 20-odd thousand years.

“You four go back and tell General Skylast the good news. I’m going to look for the Rakatan archive.”

“How do you know it’s here?” Katzen asked.

“The Rakatans liked to record everything they did and wanted all that information available to all its citizens at all times in all places. There IS an archive here. I’ll let you know when I find it.”

As Praven led the other four out, Kayla started going through all the files on the computer located outside the Razer’s cell. What was the most interesting was how the Rakatans managed to contain the Razer, an energy space being, on Belsavis. The lava cover was just an extra precaution.

Using that report’s link, she was able to track its origin back to the main archive in which it was stored. She got out her map and reviewed the trace carefully; she was able to put the archive in a general location. She headed for that site.

********

Once she found the archive, and after clearing out a few more Esh-kha, she sent word to her friends where to find her. They spent 48 hours scouring the records. They found the ritual sites as well as the rituals themselves. Kayla erased that information after noting the final site on her map.

“What’s really interesting,” she told Katzen as the two sat at terminals in the Rakatan archive, “is that they used one of the ritual sites to imprison the World Razer. That was their first prisoner here; they built the rest up around it.”

“Kayla, I think you should see this; I think it names another planet’s archive site,” Chasnur called her over. He looked up to see her expression change. “Tatooine.”

Kayla stared silently for a long while then took a deep breath. “We will ensure the last site on Belsavis is destroyed, then we go to Tatooine.”


	2. Chapter 2

Praven guided the Defender-class, light corvette into the landing path for Anchorhead spaceport. Traffic control announced they were under base control and a tractor beam took hold of the ship pulling it into a dock. Praven extended the landing gears and let the ship settle.

“Well, here we are in the armpit of the galaxy,” Chasnur grumbled as the five prepared to debark. “Try not to tell anyone you’re Sith, Vux. Let them believe what they like.”

“That’s no fun.” The former Mandalorian grinned.

“But it keeps the body count down,” Katzen pointed out.

“Let’s get this place over with,” Kayla growled as she pushed past the others and extended the ship’s gangplank.

Praven lay a hand on her shoulder before she opened the hatch. “Will you be all right? This place could bring back some bad memories.”

“It already has,” she told him and opened the hatch.

She and Katzen and Chasnur were the first off. As predictable, the ground crew smiled and started to greet them then froze in shock and fear as the True Sith and the Mandalorian in Sith robes exited.

Vuxoo smiled and waved imperiously. “Carry on, peons.”

The customs officer stared at her and Praven as Kayla presented their travel authorization from the Jedi Council. “Yes, the Sith is with me and Master Praven IS a Jedi.”

They stopped at a tourist information kiosk manned by a smiling Twi’lek, with a name tag saying, ‘Welcome to Anchorhead, my name is Chad.’ They picked up a satellite map of Tatooine, all the continents, and Kayla got directions to a hotel with a dining room.

“A tourist information kiosk? Who in their right mind would WANT to visit Tatooine?” Chasnur asked as they left kiosk.

At the hotel, they booked two rooms, dropped their gear, then proceeded to the lounge. They sat around a table with the map laid out in the middle.

“That outcropping of rocks looks like the description of the location in the Belsavis archives,” Vuxoo pointed.

“The Rakatans referenced a nearby lake. There is no geologic formation to indicate there was ever a lake in this area,” Praven told her.

“How about this?” Chasnur pointed at an area in the southern continent. “That depression looks like it could have once been a lake.”

Katzen shook her head. “I just can’t imagine this brown dustball ever having green plants and blue lakes and oceans. How could a few dragons dry all that up?”

“It wasn’t just a few; it was millions.” Kayla explained.

“Oh,” the Cathar whimpered and fell silent staring at the map.

“There’s only one way to find out if that is the site of the archive, go there,” Praven stated pragmatically.

Kayla studied the map and did a quick calculation. “It’s about 18,000 kilometers; that’s a 36 standard-hour flight for me.”

“We could take the corvette,” Chasnur suggested.

Vuxoo shook her head. “This is all desert; one sand storm and sand in the engines would shut the ship down in a heartbeat.” She glanced at the silence. “What? I tried it once; not on Tatooine but a similar environment. My clan was not happy with me; we had to dismantle the ship to get it out of there and back to base for repairs.”

“I would be concerned about exhausting you, Kayla. We should break this up into manageable legs and travel at night when it’s cooler. There must be settlements along the way where we can rest during the heat of the days.” Praven began expanding the map to find settlements.

“Sort of like you did on Korriban; you traveled during the night to the Academy to avoid the heat,” Vuxoo pointed out.

“And to avoid Sith head games,” Kayla added.

Praven was drawing a line on the map between Anchorhead and a point south, a small town called Mos Rai just off a huge sand depression that once was an ocean. “First stop. From there it’s a long trip across the basin to… here, Fistine. That leaves a short jump to the site at the southern end of the continent.” He continued mapping out their course.

“Everyone stock up on supplies, especially water,” Kayla announced. “We’ll need a shelter, food – I can hunt – a solar generator would be very handy, and something to stash everything in.”

“And I get to carry it all,” Katzen groaned.

“No, we’ll strap it to my back.” Kayla laughed at Katzen’s expression of relief.

That evening, the party left the hotel and headed beyond the city limits. They used the Force to carry their supplies in a large pack. Despite the heat of the day, few people were out at night due to the more dangerous denizens of the planet.

Within the city, womprats scuttled away from the passing dragon in human form; their sense of smell warned them of the presence of the apex predator. Once the noise of urban life was behind them, they could hear the distant screech of a dewback as it died at the claws of some hunter. That was followed by a low roar.

“That is a krayt dragon,” Kayla announced staring into the distance. She shook herself. “Let’s go.” She shapeshifted then lowered her neck so the others could secure the supplies. “It will get cold, so lay low; don’t anyone fall asleep or you’ll fall off.”

Once everyone was in place, Kayla launched using the heat rising off the cooling surface to gain altitude; she then banked and headed in the direction of their first stop.

The first sun was rising in the east when Kayla landed outside Mos Rai. “This is Imperial territory,” she announced.

“Chasnur, Katzen, hide your lightsabers; pull your hoods over your faces, look down, shuffle dejectedly and look like slaves; use the Force to help reinforce the image. And make this look heavy,” Praven said giving each a large empty box to carry. Their actual supplies they buried to be reclaimed when they left. “From this moment until we leave for Fistine, we are Sith.”

“How do we explain where we came from?” Katzen asked nervously.

“They don’t have a need to know,” Vuxoo growled and set out stridently for the small village.

Two Imperial troopers stepped into their path at the checkpoint into the city. “Where…” Kayla threw them aside with the Force and kept going; she tugged Katzen by the arm as she passed the soldiers.

“We need a place to rest; where’s the inn?” Praven demanded glaring at the sergeant, as he got back on his feet.

“Straight on two blocks, My Lord; Oasis is the name of the place.”

Without a thank you, Praven prodded Chasnur forward.

“Paper…” farther along the street, a captain in the company of a small squad started to stop them.

Vuxoo lit her saber and grabbed him by his tunic. “We are hungry; we are tired; our piece-of-shit rental speeder broke down about 40 kilometers north of here. You were saying?”

“Welcome to Mos Rai, My Lords.” He signaled his squad to hurry on.

They easily found the inn, got a room assignment, ordered food delivered to their room, and got comfortable.

“Damn, you three were scary.” Chasnur collapsed on one of the three beds.

“There’s five of us and three beds,” Katzen noted wondering how far this slave charade was going to go.

“I’m going hunting,” Kayla announced and immediately headed out.

“You and I can share,” Chasnur said and curled up in a ball on the bed he sat on.

“But your…” Katzen pointed at his untouched plate.

“I’m too tired to eat right now.” Chasnur closed his eyes.

********

“Sgt. Jaines, did you get any paperwork on those three Sith who arrived today?” Capt. Badur stared at a computer image of a True Sith.

“No, sir, the tall blonde one threw us aside like…” Jaines couldn’t finish; it had been a rather humiliating experience. “May I ask why you didn’t get their papers?”

“A bad-mood lecture.” Badur spun his chair and reviewed that night’s records from radar. There had been a report of an unidentifiable flying object that did not fit any known in-atmosphere craft. He studied the recording intently. It disappeared off the scan about 40 kilometers southwest of Mos Rai just after Tatoo I rose.

“You’ve never cared about Sith bad moods before, why today?” Jaines looked over his captain’s shoulder.

Badur pointed at the image of the Sith on the computer, “That is Lord Praven. He disappeared about seven years ago, was presumed dead after an encounter with a Jedi. He came here on some business for a Darth Angrel, who is now dead; Lord Praven was presumed dead. Today he walked into Mos Rai. That bothers me.”

“How do you know him?”

“When he arrived at Mos Eisley, I was working the customs station he passed through. He stuck in my mind because he’s not your average psy… average Sith, comparatively pleasant.”

“Oh.” Jaines studied the image of the three Sith and their two Cathar slaves. “Sir, look at this.” He magnified the image from the check-in desk at the Oasis. He pointed to an odd fold in the robe of the male slave.

“Well I’ll be damned.” The captain slammed the desk. “Those aren’t slaves, those are Jedi. Good work, sergeant.”

“Are we going to arrest them?” The sergeant was unnerved by that idea. At this remote outpost, they didn’t have the equipment necessary to confront and restrain Force users. Their job was little more than keeping the fauna at bay and hunting down pirates and thieves and giving drunks a place to sleep it off.

“No, doing that is above my paygrade,” Badur said shaking his head. “I’m calling in someone who can. Get a deep-desert patrol together and go to this location.” He pointed at the place the UFO had dropped off the radar. “I want to know anything, no matter how minute, you find. They said their taxi crashed 40 kilometers north; if you find nothing at the first location, try to find their damned taxi in this area.” He drew a larger circle in the area the Zabrak had referred to.

Jaines acknowledged the order and left. Badur opened a holo-channel to headquarters at Mos Eisley.


	3. Chapter 3

Kayla prodded the others awake. It was time to continue. They would be crossing the southern sea and though it was now dry, it was a desert; she wanted to make the far side in one shot.

Tatoo II was still up as they left Mos Rai. They refused the offer to use a taxi saying that they were not going that far into the Southern Sea.

Once clear of any visual observations from the village, Kayla shifted to dragon form and the five retrieved their gear then took off south. She kept low at first rising to altitude after about an hour.

********

“Sir, there it is again.” The radar technician pointed out the blip to Capt. Badur. “It almost looks like the signature of a krayt dragon, but it’s flying.” He shook his head at the paradox.

“Track its course as long as you can,” Badur ordered and sat to watch. The radar followed the UFO for about three hours before it was out of range; the track was due south without change.

“It’s headed toward Fistine.” The technician printed off the track and gave it to the captain. “What do you think it is?”

Badur pursed his lips. “I don’t know, but Sith Intelligence is sending a team and I want to have every little bit of anomaly available for them when they arrive. Two Sith Lords reported missing in action suddenly turn up in the company of a former Acolyte reportedly killed while finding her crystal all in the company of what appear to be two Jedi Cathar they are claiming to be slaves.” He glared at the technician. “That makes me very uncomfortable.”

********

“Why are we landing?” Katzen asked as Kayla alit near a cave. Both suns were still up.

“Dere is a huge sandstorm headed dis way. I could ply abub it, but de atmo will be extremely tin and de air currents erratic. You set up de tent well to de back ob de cabe p-hacing away prum de opening. I’m going to grab someting to eat prior to de storm.” She launched again and banked east toward where she had seen evidence of a sand worm.

When she returned, the sky was starting to darken, and the wind had drop; the calm before the storm. She curled up just inside the mouth of the cave with her back to the opening. Until the storm hit, she watched and helped coach as Praven and Vuxoo sparred with Katzen and Chasnur.

She felt the wind and sand hit against her armored back. The others retreated as wind whipped around Kayla’s body and brought swirling sand into the cave. Kayla stretched one of her wings over her covering her face.

Even with Kayla’s body blocking the entrance, the wind and sand made it to the tent, buffeting it with the other four inside.

“Katzen, I want you to project a protective shell around the tent,” Praven instructed. Sand was beginning to seep in through any small crack it could find.

“Yes, Master,” Katzen obliged.

“Do not let fear rule you,” he instructed as she wove the shield in place. “You must master your emotions, not fall victim to them.”

“Kayla used to say that at the Academy all the time,” Vuxoo noted. “My late master was a proponent of rage making one more powerful with the Force.” She paused. “Kayla was right. I’ve decided to believe someone who’s several thousands of years old over someone who’s only several decades.”

It wasn’t until after both sunrises the next day that the storm passed. The four stepped out of the tent to see Kayla half buried under sand.

Her wing moved first dislodging sand away from her head; she then stood and sand fell in piles around her. She looked at the piles; those suddenly blew away toward the open desert. She walked out into the searing sunlight, looked toward the blue sky, then shook herself. More sand, that had been stuck under her scales, sprayed off.

“Let’s go.” She settled down to allow the others to pack the gear onto her and mount. “You did well last night by not allowing your p-hear to get de better ob you, Katzen,” she told her Padawan.

“That was intense,” Katzen answered clamoring into place between two ridge spikes. “Let’s get out of here before another one comes along.”

They landed outside the settlement of Fistine on the southern edge of the sea after more than eight hours of continuous flight. Fortunately for the group, this settlement had neither Imperial nor Republic presence. It also didn’t have a hotel, but a resident, quite shocked at the arrival of strangers, directed them to a large house saying the owner would provide them rooms. There was a tavern where they could get food and drink.

Word of the strangers spread quickly, reaching the owner of the house before they did. She was the unofficial mayor of the village and owned the firm that shipped water from the local moisture farmers to markets on the northern continent. She offered the rooms for free but water carried a steep price. The toilet was composting, and the shower was a sonic shower as found on space vessels. Despite the cost, at the tavern, Kayla ordered only water and lots of it; she gladly paid the high cost.

“What are you Force users doing this far out?” the tavern owner asked bringing yet another tray of water for Kayla.

“We’re looking for an archaeological site,” Praven explained. He rolled out the map and pointed to their destination. “It is my belief that this was once an ancient Rakatan city.”

“Heh, Jimny, come look at this. You’ve been that far out.” The owner called another patron over.

The man who approached wore layers of loose robes; his skin was seared and weathered by the suns and winds. He carried a blaster rifle and a vibrosword. His feet were bound in hand-made animal-hide boots. He leaned over Katzen’s shoulder and looked at the map. “That’s them old ruins. Ain’t nuthin there but big cats and huge snakes and really angry Sand People.”

“Ruins you say?” Vuxoo asked. “Perfect, just what we’re looking for. As for the big cats and huge snakes and angry natives, I think we can handle them.”

“I’d ask if ya need a guide and a blaster, but by the looks of them lightsabers, I would say the answer is no.” Jimny returned to his table and his drink.

“Well guessed,” Praven announced when the owner left. “An ancient city.” He smiled.

“Get some rest, we leave after first sunset,” Kayla said and downed her last glass of water.

“Going hunting?” Katzen asked.

“Going shopping; we need sufficient water,” Kayla stood and left.

This far south, the days were shorter than they were on the northern continent and the nights were long and dark this time of year. Kayla figured they could probably reach the site in the next leg.

They landed just beyond the ruins 17 hours after leaving the little village. They were greeted by the roar of a big cat somewhere deep within the ruins.

“This used to be a jungle,” she told the others as they crossed the sand. She pointed to her right. “Sand People approaching.”

While four lightsabers deflected the blaster fire back toward the attackers, Kayla used her hand to focus her attacks. Her crystal hummed in attack tones to which she harmonized. It wasn’t long before the Sand People retreated to tend their wounded and bury their dead.

“That’s a big cat and angry Sand People. That leaves the huge snake,” Chasnur noted keeping his lightsaber in his hand. His ears cocked at another roar. “That’s a Krayt; scary dude didn’t say anything about Krayt Dragons.”

Kayla chuckled. “Don’t worry; I’m way scarier than anything we’ll run into.”

“Can you communicate with Krayt Dragons?” Vuxoo asked curiously.

Kayla shook her head. “Their minds were twisted until there was little to no sentience left. Snake.”

Everyone used the Force to hide their heat signatures. The creature that lay sunning in their path was about 15 meters long. They eased past trying not to disturb the beast.

“That’s all three plus one,” Katzen noted. “So here we are; where do we start looking for the archive?”

Praven pulled out his scanner and everyone followed suit. “We’re looking for any power signal no matter how weak. Spread out.”

They prowled the jumble of debris for hours with no success; Tatoo I was setting when they met in what would have been the city center and made camp.

Kayla went over the information she had in hopes of narrowing down the location of the archives.

“What if there is no power signal?” Katzen asked. “How do we find it then?”

Chasnur rubbed his nose. “Kayla’s and our sense of smell is more acute than Vuxoo or Praven. Maybe we can smell it out.”

“What would you be smelling for?” Praven asked sitting up; he had been stretched out on the ground watching the sky turn orange. Smelling out an item was an interesting concept he’d never thought of.

“Well, the archive on Belsavis had that cooling lubricant that smelled like old turd,” Chasnur grumbled.

Katzen contorted her face in distaste at the thought of seeking that smell out. “Why do you suppose it smells like that?”

“Because they made if from Rakatan poo,” Chasnur seriously announced.

Vuxoo snorted water out through her nose. “ARGH! Good one, Chas. Kat, it’s very old,” Vuxoo explained. “It probably didn’t smell like that when it was new.”

“So, in the morning, we three try to sniff out the archives,” Kayla announced setting aside the map.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the first ritual site.

Chasnur’s suggestion led them to the archive. They used the solar generator as a power source to access the files; once they did, they found references to the three ritual sites complete with latitude and longitude. The nearest was about 1200 kilometers east-southeast. As for any reference to the sites or ritual, Kayla erased them from all computer memory. She then destroyed the computer.

They traveled through the night again and landed on the edge of a large Imperial Reclamation Service camp made up of a large number of Sith.

“That won’t make things easy,” Vuxoo noted.

“There’s another camp on the far side,” Kayla explained.

“Jedi no doubt,” Vuxoo suggested.

“No, from the feel of things, there are no force users in that camp,” Kayla said. “Or at least only one or two.”

“So how do we destroy a site Sith archaeologists are trying to lay claim to?” Chasnur asked as the group began skirting the Imperial camp.

“Go big or go home,” Vuxoo muttered.

“What?” Katzen asked.

Vuxoo nodded at Kayla. “Something else your master always said. Why don’t you just slip in under cover of darkness and blow the site to bits?”

“I want the ritual documents as well. As long as those exist, the site can be reused. But the slip in under cover of darkness is a good plan.”

“Let’s make camp well away from all of them,” Praven suggested moving away from the site.

“You shifted into a Skyrack back on Korriban,” Vuxoo said as they walked clear of any camps. “Isn’t there something innocuous you can change into to scout out the area?”

“How about a Krayt Dragon?” Katzen suggested.

“That is far from innocuous,” Praven pointed out.

“But not something beyond the realm of probability,” Kayla said. “All I need do is stroll through the area, in the night to get a sense of where everything is. In the meantime, you four come up with some way to get in, find the ritual, and destroy the site without anyone catching us.”

“No pressure,” Chasnur grumbled. “That looks like a good site for a camp, high and out of the way.”

They climbed up onto the stone promontory and set up the tent away from the edge. Once their camp was in place, Kayla and Chasnur crawled to the edge with binoculars. Kayla studied the two camps as Chasnur took notes on what Kayla saw.

As the long night deepened and the two camps settled for the evening, Kayla slipped away and shape-shifted into the form of her land-bound kin. She heard a roar of a lesser Krayt in the distance and responded with a territorial announcement of the greater Krayt. Everything fell silent in an effort not to be noticed by the carnivore.

She began sauntering in the direction of the ritual site unimpressed by the presence of the two camps on opposing sides. At one point a guard fired a blaster, but the shot bounced harmlessly off her protective armor; she switched her tail as if to dislodge a fly. She eased in the direction of that camp and got close enough to see that it was in fact the Czerka Corporation.

Within the ancient site itself, there were three, five-meter plinths with their tops sticking a little above the sand; at least seven-eighths of their size was under the sand. There had been some digging around them, but the excavation seemed to have been interrupted by the arrival of adversaries. Kayla sniffed the air and picked up the trace scent of decaying coolant deep under the sand. She also picked up the scent of stale blood; there had been fighting in this area with casualties. She made note of the location of everything as she crossed the area and headed back into the wilderness in search of a meal.

She returned to her camp after finding and partaking of a Dewback that had strayed from one of the camps. She stretched out under the starlit sky enjoying the drop of temperature that came with nights in the desert. When the others woke, she told them what she had found.

“The Force is strong here,” Praven noted. “The Sith probably believe this is the site of an old Force-user temple and hope to claim its knowledge and the power.”

“But what they’ll find could destroy Tatooine altogether,” Katzen said with a shudder.

“Exactly,” Kayla agreed. “They’re fighting again,” she said and eased to the edge of the cliff. They could see the exchange of blaster fire and the meeting of lightsabers versus vibroblades at the ritual site. “This could escalate very soon. I’m sure both sides have called for reinforcements.”

“Couldn’t you do your stop-motion thing?” Vuxoo asked.

“To what end? Neither will surrender, and I can’t, well I could but I shouldn’t, murder them all.” Kayla studied the fight through the binoculars.

“I have a crazy idea,” Chasnur said scratching his cheek. “What if we could give an orbiting ship bad coordinates and they bomb the site instead of a camp?” When no one spoke but stared rather dumbfounded he shrugged. “I told you it was crazy.”

“So crazy it just might work,” Praven smiled at the thought. “A space strike would leave nothing but a crater. They go away, we ensure the ritual is destroyed. Bob’s your uncle, we go on to the next.”

“Bob’s-your-uncle? Where the hell did you get that?” Kayla shook her head. “So how do we find out if a ship has responded to their summons and how to reach it?”

“I’ll infiltrate the Czerka camp, I used to work for them; Vuxoo can infiltrate the Sith camp.” Chasnur suggested.

“You are both inexperienced,” Praven pointed out. “Don’t go picking a fight, Lord Vuxoo.”

“I wouldn’t think of it. We have a job to do.” She started to gather what she felt she would need.

Praven sighed and smiled slightly; perhaps he was getting through the worst of Vuxoo’s Sith indoctrination.

“Chas?” Katzen looked at her twin with worry.

He patted her hand. “We two are the most inconspicuous of the group. “Masters Praven and Kayla both stand out like sore thumbs; I know Czerka and you don’t.”

“Okay,” Praven agreed. “Try not to use the Force to eavesdrop. Find if and whom they have called and how we might reach them then get out.”

It was a very long and tedious wait for the three. At one point, there was shouting and blaster fire from the Czerka camp. Katzen startled and called Chasnur’s name.

“No harm has come to them,” Kayla assured. “You are his twin, you would feel it if he were injured. Control your fear; reach out with the Force; you will sense his well being.”

Katzen shifted into a meditative position and soon calmed. It was well after dark when Chasnur and Vuxoo both returned.

“The Sith have asked for reinforcements but no one has arrived,” Vuxoo reported

“Well, not so much Czerka; they sent for and have a corporate dreadnought now in orbit to support their claim to the site. The bridge can be reached on the standard company frequency.” Chasnur said. “The head of their team is a fellow named Feiler Shamus; he’s the vice president in charge of Artifact Appropriation. With a little practice and the Force, I think I can imitate his voice.” He pulled out his holorecorder. “I got his voice right here.”

“We better act fast,” Kayla suggested. “We need to redirect their attack to the site before they open fire on the Sith camp.”

Chasnur used the Force to make his voice sound like Shamus, then he called the dreadnought keeping the contact non-visual.

“Captain Gaile, this is VP Feiler Shamus; you need to fire on the Imp camp.”

“What? But…”

“The Sith got word of your presence and are preparing to make a move to claim the site; I have coordinates for you.” Chasnur gave the coordinates and told the captain to open fire immediately before the Sith moved.

“Yes, sir,” the exasperated captain responded.

Shortly after the end of the transmission, a barrage of laser fire shot from the sky striking the ritual site. Sand and rocks and bits of the plinths were sent in every direction hitting both camps. The barrage lasted no more than 30 seconds. When it ceased, there was nothing but a blackened crater in place of the dig site.

“We better get the hell out of here. It won’t take Czerka long to figure out there was a security breach and to start looking for the culprit,” Kayla said starting to break camp.

As they headed away from the site, Praven instructed Chasnur and Katzen on how to hide all evidence of their presence. They returned to the archive site, keeping their ears to the comms chatter. They learned that both groups were moving away from the now devastated site. Once they felt the site would be down to at least minimal interference, they returned.

There was still a Sith and Czerka presence but both teams were not half what they had been and had moved farther away from the crater that had once been their dig site.

From their spot on the rock promontory, they could see figures moving through the crater looking for salvageable bits of artifacts.

“Tonight, we go in, get the ritual, and get the hell out,” Praven said.

“I’ll prowl around as a Krayt to keep them from noticing you,” Kayla said.

That night, Kayla, in Krayt Dragon form, led the group into the crater. The putrid smell of decaying coolant she had noted previously was now scattered but not all of it was old enough to be Rakatan. She snuffled around digging out the oldest smell and let the others excavate what she found. Periodically, she would raise her head and roar territorially. It kept other Krayt Dragons and curious archaeologists away.

The Force leaked out here; it engulfed the five with its power. Kayla’s crystal was humming as if enjoying the influx of power. Katzen and Chasnur kept fidgeting as the Force made their fur stand on end.

“Got it!” Katzen jumped up with an ancient data pad. She handed it to Praven.

Kayla lowered one eye over his shoulder as he checked the contents. They confirmed it was what they were looking for and left.

The next day when an Imperial Reclamation Service archaeologist went into the pit, there was evidence a large Krayt Dragon had been digging about and knocking everything further helter skelter than it already was. Several critical pieces had been crushed by the large creature’s ramblings, and it had dug a deep pit into which it had defecated.

“I hate this planet,” the head of the Czerka expedition growled kicking a shard of a plinth into the pit of pooh.

The Imperial Reclamation commander snorted her agreement.


	5. Chapter 5

As the Site 1 teams were packing up to leave, Kayla and her friends were once again flying across the southern-ocean bed, this time headed northeast towards the arctic pole. This route took two days to cross the dried-out seabed. They found an extinct volcano in the lee of which to camp during the heat of the day. The second day after leaving Site 1, they camped on a mesa looming over an area of moisture farms. Their supplies were getting low so they wanted to find a community.

The fourth morning out, they walked into a small city under Republic control. Praven presented their travel authorization from the Jedi Council and got directions to one of the larger hotels with a dining room.

“I’m worried about you, Kayla. You’re showing signs of exhaustion,” Praven said as they settled into their suite.

“I’m fine,” she assured.

“No, you’re not. Master Praven is correct; I can feel it.” Katzen scowled at her master.

“We need to find an alternate form of travel, at least for a while,” Vuxoo concurred.

Chasnur froze with a fruit half-way to his mouth and looked at those looking at him. “Don’t look at me; I’m an insensitive male type. She seems fine to me.”

Katzen groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, I’ll go see if we can rent or buy a speeder to use,” Chasnur pushed the fruit into his mouth and walked out.

“Vuxoo, you and I will restock our water supply. Katzen, you will restock our food supply. Kayla, you will stay here and rest.” Praven herded the two women out leaving Kayla alone.

Kayla shrugged, got comfortable, and went into a meditative trance. She wished Grandma Blashe were still around to relay news from Sanctuary, her home planet. Instead, she sent her consciousness out across Tatooine as she had done every resting period since landing on the planet. She wanted to touch the mind of any Krayt, to find if there was any sentience left. Somewhere out there was her cousin, the great-great-grandchild of a son from her previous life.

If she touched the consciousness of a Krayt Dragon, whether it was the greater Krayt, canyon Krayt, or lesser Krayt, she picked up sensations of fear, hunger, territoriality, and the procreative drive; all thoughts were geared toward very basic survival. None seemed to have any racial memory of their past. None seemed to have any connection to the Force.

Kayla sighed and absently wiped a tear away. The fall of her kinsmen had been as complete as her racial memories indicated.

She was still alone so stretched out on a bed and focused on regenerating her energy. This was the semi-conscious state her comrades found her in when they returned.

Praven smiled when she sat up rejuvenated.

“So, what did you find?” she asked.

“Well, for a city, albeit small, there are no speeders to rent or buy. There is a Dewback breeder willing to sell us six,” Chasnur reported, rather proud of himself. His smile faded at Kayla’s frown.

“I eat Dewbacks,” she reminded him.

He shrugged, “But they don’t know that?”

“They can smell her coming. They might be docile, but they aren’t stupid,” his sister reminded him with a light punch of frustration to his arm. “I got enough food for the four of us to last a week. The grocer seemed fascinated by the idea we’re headed into the deep desert.”

“I hope we got enough water to last us to the next settlement; it’s hard to tell the way Kayla drinks it.” Vuxoo propped her fist on her hip and stared at her friend.

“Travelling by Dewbacks will be very slow,” Kayla pointed out.

“But less of a strain on our purse strings because you won’t be so thirsty,” Praven pointed out. He turned and caught Chasnur’s arm. “Let’s go back and buy those mounts.”

Kayla sighed after they left. “This won’t work.”

Vuxoo plopped into a chair and draped her leg over the arm. “Chas and Kat are both carnivores; if the Dewbacks will let them near, I don’t see why they won’t let you.” She picked up a fruit and began savoring the flavor and juices.

“We don’t eat Dewbacks; we haven’t eaten meat since we landed on Tatooine; we don’t require meat to survive,” Katzen pointed out. “She smells like she’s recently eaten, a Dewback.”

“Which I have,” Kayla added.

Vuxoo looked questioningly at Kayla. “Smell like you’ve eaten Dewback?”

Kayla nodded then shook her head. “Never mind, you don’t have the nose for it.”

Vuxoo shrugged. “Use the Force, that Jedi mind trick. It’s just a stupid animal.”

That suggestion had merit.

********

That evening, the five arrived at the Dewback breeder, a short human male named Dar Fawler. He had a child slave who held the reins to three of the Dewbacks. All, but one, were saddled; the last wore a pack harness. The moment Kayla neared, all six animals got nervous and began tugging at their leads. Dar held his three, but the boy battled not being dragged off.

Chasnur took the three sets of reins from the boy and told him to go. The lad looked to Dar who gave him a curt nod and told him to clean the stalls; the boy scampered off to do as told.

Kayla gathered the Force to exude calm over the Dewback Dar was handing her. She was please when it settled down. They packed their gear onto the pack animal, mounted, and headed out.

They had been traveling for several hours. “See, nothing to worry about,” Vuxoo crowed.

“I’m not going to be able to let my Force guard down for a minute, though,” Kayla groused.

“It’ll get used to your smell and learn you mean it no harm,” Praven assured patting his mount on its massive shoulder.

“What do Dewback taste like?” Katzen asked.

Kayla thought a bit. “Like chicken.”

“What’s a chicken?” Chasnur asked.

“Never mind.”

The animals startled when a desert predator snarled protecting its kill. They calmed under their masters’ use of the Force.

“Is Tatooine’s arctic circle cold like on a normal planet or hot like the rest of this infernal place?” Vuxoo asked wonderingly.

“I have to pee,” Katzen said reining up and hopping off.

“Are we there yet?” Chasnur growled and rolled his eyes at his sister.

“This is going to be a lo-o-ong trip,” Kayla sighed leaning on the pommel of her saddle.

********

When they first made camp, Katzen got Kayla alone. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Depends on how personal,” Kayla responded.

“How heavy are we to carry?” Katzen asked.

Kayla chuckled, looked up at the sky, and thought a bit. “You four plus the gear about one-quarter my weight.”

“So that’s like me carrying… 25 pounds.”

“Yeah,” Kayla said. “You can carry that easy on your shoulders.”

That evening before leaving, Kayla returned from hunting to find the Katzen carrying a pack water bottles and running an obstacle course. “What is she doing?”

Praven watched with some amusement, his arms folded over his broad chest. “Trying to empathize with you.” He shot Kayla a glance. “And learning at the same time.”

Katzen stopped and dropped her hands to her knees while gulping air. “That’s hard in this heat. No wonder you’re exhausted, Kayla.”

“You are forgetting something,” Praven said glowering as the stern instructor he was.

“What’s that?” Katzen wiped sweat off her palms and panted.

“The Force,” Praven and Kayla answered simultaneously.

The three younger Force users stared at the two.

“You aren’t aware when someone is using the Force on you?” Kayla asked mildly chiding. She laughed at Katzen’s expression. “I always use the Force on lift off. I also let the Force carry you.” She tsked. “You should ALWAYS be aware when someone is using the Force on you regardless of how benign the purpose. Now use the Force to hold the weight of those boxes and run the course again.”

“Lifting with the Force is one of the first lessons of any Force user, Jedi and Sith,” Praven reminded. “As for not noticing that Kayla was Force lifting you, we have to work on that.”

“It’s your turn to do the cooking,” Vuxoo suddenly announced.

“Oh, yeah,” Katzen started for the gear when Praven caught her arm.

“Like just now,” he growled. “Nice try Vuxoo but it is your turn.” He watched her leave out of the corner of his eye. “Back to this particular lesson.”

“This is a lesson?” Katzen asked surprised.

“Of course, it is,” Kayla answered.

Katzen got her breathing slowed and did as instructed. “That was WAY easier,” she crowed when she finished the course.

“So, you can stop worrying about me carrying the four of you and our gear; I can’t feel it,” Kayla turned and headed to start prepping the Dewbacks for the night’s travel.

Praven studied Chasnur and Katzen. “Don’t worry too much, Vuxoo was as surprised as you two. The three of you need to recognize when and how the Force is being used on you. That will be our lesson for a while.”

“Vuxoo too?” Katzen asked. She seemed to feel Vuxoo was all trained up.

“She was only an apprentice when she left her master to follow Kayla. That is the Sith equivalent of a Padawan – working in the field with an experienced master learning practical uses of the Force.” He patted the Cathars’ shoulders and headed for the camp stove where Vuxoo was heating up dinner for the four. He told her she would be learning with the Padawans.

“So, you weigh like 2 tons?” Chasnur asked Kayla as they started the second leg.

“Yeah, about as much as a full-grown Hutt.” Kayla answered.

“How do you… I mean… You go…” Katzen was flustered.

“Her bones are hollow,” Praven announced. “When she reduces her size, she compresses her bones and organs. That is why she is such a big human.”

“Ouch,” Vuxoo grimaced. “That must hurt. Isn’t it hard to breath?”

“When in the form of a smaller creature? Yeah,” Kayla admitted.

“How old are dragons when they start using the Force?” Vuxoo asked.

“From the time they are born. Fortunately, they aren’t strong, but they have no control. The nesting grounds can be quite chaotic.”

********

It took four full days to cross the uninhabited expanse between settlements. By the time the group arrived at a small moisture farming village, their supplies were significantly low.

“We’d have been here three days ago,” Kayla grumbled as the others stretched on beds in a rooming house. She leaned over the map of Tatooine. “There’s a city about an eight-hour flight northwest of here. If we continue with the Dewbacks, it’ll take three more days, and we have one day of water left. I doubt this town has enough water to sell us for the five of us and six Dewbacks for a three-day trip.”

“Not to mention the Dewbacks really do not like you,” Vuxoo pointed out grumpily. She had been trod upon by a very nervous Dewback trying to stay away from Kayla.

Praven’s Dewback figuratively had the shit scared out of it and had let loose while Praven was passing behind it. He was keeping silent and drawing upon Jedi aplomb to rise above the embarrassing effort of cleaning poop off himself.

Chasnur was just feeling grumpy. “Speaking for Katzen and myself, we stand with Kayla. I realize it can be exhausting for you but at the rate we traveled with the Dewbacks, it will take a lifetime to accomplish our task. I don’t want to live out my existence on this ball of sand.”

“You guys rest up; I’ll see to the sale of the Dewbacks.” Kayla left the room.

“I hate to admit it, but I was wrong. I am still concerned about her carrying us over vast distances, like crossing the seas,” Praven finally groaned. “I’m going to take a sonic shower. I can still smell myself.”

“So, can I,” Chasnur muttered.

“I heard that,” Praven growled as he left.

Katzen and Vuxoo were giggling as the door closed.

********

Twenty-four hours later, they landed outside Mos Dray, a city under Hutt control. This early in the morning, the streets were full of people going home from work in the all-night casinos and nightclubs. The city that survived on an income based upon organized crime. They took a suite of rooms in a hotel attached to one of the many casinos; it had water showers.

Also, as a neutral area, there were both Republic and Imperial personnel enjoying the decadence of the local Hutt.

“Let’s stay a couple of days,” Praven suggested. “It looks like the next leg, which takes us to Site 2, is going to be several days. We need to stock up for at least a couple of weeks for that and then to get to Site 3.”

“This place has a laundry,” Katzen announced happily looking up from the holobrochure.

“Are you implying I still smell?” Praven grumbled.

“Your clothes do, but for that matter all our clothes are getting a little ripe,” she explained.

“Well, guess which Padawan just volunteered to take our dirty laundry to be cleaned,” Praven announced as he began pulling a dirty change of clothes out of his pack.

Kayla went in search of a water vendor. As she passed a series of kiosks, she felt that she was being tailed. She cast her senses out and touched upon a furtive mind; she knew this stranger recognized her as a person of interest to the Imperials. She walked on to her destination as though there were nothing amiss and made her purchase, telling the vendor where to have the water delivered and when. She then headed back to the hotel.

Everyone was asleep when she walked in so she got comfortable for meditation. She sent her consciousness out looking for the mind she had touched earlier and found the owner in an alley outside the hotel, a Twi’lek female in space gear carrying a blaster. Kayla hovered around to learn what the bounty hunter would do.

The Twi’lek was in a position where she could see who was entering or exiting the main entrance of the hotel. She responded when her holocommunicator beeped. “I have your Jedi, my Lord. The one I followed is at the Double Aces Casino.”

There was no hologram of the master, only the voice; a voice Kayla recognized. “I must know if the others are there as well. You will keep watch.”

That was all Kayla needed. She left the room and exited the building through a rear service entrance. She used the Force to cover her approach and walked up behind the bounty hunter. She touched the woman’s head and the Twi’lek fell instantly asleep. Kayla then extracted all memory of the bounty she was pursuing and Lord Arzanon. She could not allow Inquisitor Arzanon to interfere with the group’s task.

When Praven awoke, she told him about the bounty hunter and that Arzanon was looking for them apparently at the behest of Sith Intelligence.

“When she doesn’t check in, Arzanon will either come here himself or send his agent. We shouldn’t stay here long.” Praven paced rubbing one of his chin spikes. “How did you erase her memory?”

Kayla shrugged. “I modified the Jedi probe and Jedi persuasion techniques.”

“You’ll have to teach me that when we have time. Let’s get the others up and moving. We need to stock up on supplies and…”

“I don’t think Arzanon is in the city,” Kayla interrupted. “I didn’t sense his presence; we can rest a bit. I purchased enough water for three weeks; it can’t be delivered until tomorrow evening because it is such a large amount. We just have to keep a low profile; I can change my appearance and move about inconspicuously. Where there’s one greedy bounty hunter, there are 57; they’ll have all heard that Arzanon’s looking for us.”

“What about the front desk staff? They can direct the inquisitive to our room,” Praven noted.

“I’ll do the memory trick on them; only modify how they saw us so they won’t connect us to any holos Arzanon might have.” Kayla headed out to do as she had offered. It wouldn’t stop Arzanon completely, but it would slow him down.

They used room service for their meals and when they went out, kept their hoods up and used the Force to help deflect any recognition.

They left the city the second evening and started the last leg to the arctic location of Site 2. They got delayed by another sandstorm; these tended to be very large since there was nothing to break them up. All they had to protect themselves this time was being in the lee of a rocky outcropping with Kayla wrapped around the tent. She stood and shook off several-hundred pounds of sand once the storm passed.

“I’m going to bisit Hot apter dis,” she announced petulantly and shook again sending the last bits of sand flying.

“Huh?” Chasnur asked.

“She said she’s going to visit Hoth after this,” Vuxoo easily translated. “Remember she can’t say any letter that puts soft tissue against sharp, serrated teeth.”

The crew packed up their gear, secured it to Kayla, mounted, and continued. It took five days to reach Site 2. The days here were longer than farther south but the heat no less unrelenting.

“Uh-oh,” Kayla grumbled as she circled looking for somewhere to land.

“What’s wrong?” Praven asked shouting to be heard over the wind rushing across Kayla’s back.

“De area is crawling wit Sand People,” Kayla answered. Though it was deep night and the tribal people were asleep, it was light enough to see that their village was huge and encircled the ritual site. She landed well away from the village.

“What do we do? We can’t fight them all,” Katzen asked.

“I’m not going to try and sneak in and spy on them,” Chasnur announced.

“No one will ask you to,” Praven assured him.

“Would now be a good time for Kayla to pull her time-stop trick?” Vuxoo asked. “Then you go in, remove and destroy, leave, and they are none the wiser. And, none of you morally inhibited Jedi types have to kill, maim, or otherwise slaughter.”

“Where would the honor be in such a fight?” Praven asked the former Mandalorian.

Vuxoo shrugged and nodded. “Excellent point, but it sure would make it easy.”

“So, what about Vuxoo’s suggestion?” Katzen asked.

“I can’t sustain it long e-nup to accomplish all dat would hab to be done and I would be doing it alone; you all would also be p-rozen.”

“Sand People aren’t known for being reasonable negotiators,” Vuxoo said. “They tend to shoot first and not ask questions ever. Besides, does anyone here understand their speech?”

“Why are they here?” Katzen asked.

“Can’t you feel it? The Force?” Chasnur asked his twin. “I bet they can too and were drawn to it.”

“Are you suggesting that this is the main ritual site?” Vuxoo asked.

“No, it isn’t,” Kayla answered. “But I tink Chas has a point. I tink it would be a good idea to ascertain why dere is such a large concentration ob Sand People here. Dey tend to dwell in small tribal groups, no more dan 60.”

“We could capture one, interrogate him/her, erase his/her memory, and send him/her back,” Vuxoo suggested.

“Keep out ob sight; I’m going to go up and take a-nudder look,” Kayla looked at the sky. It was a little lighter but not enough that she might be seen by the Sand People sentries.

When she landed the second time, she shifted into human form. “The ritual site is dead center; I estimate about 40,000 residents from the number of structures. They have sentries scattered throughout their city and have set up an alter at the center of the ritual site with guards posted.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group finds the Sand People have made a holy site of the 2nd ritual point and have to figure out how to deal with them before finding and destroying the ritual.

When the sun was up, the Sand People hunters set out. The group had set up camp well away from the city. They were, however, taking turns hiding in the sand and observing the activities. When Vuxoo returned from her shift, she reported the approach of a hunter.

“Take him alive,” Praven warned before falling back.

Vuxoo rolled her eyes. Of course, she would take him alive; you can’t interrogate a dead person. She watched the hunter and realized he was following her trail from the camp to the village. She bit her lip at her forgetting to cover her trail.

She crept up behind the lone hunter and used the Force to put him to sleep as Kayla had taught her. She bound him and carried him back to their camp.

The hunter was startled by five piercing glares when we woke up. Once he got himself under control, he growled and lunged at the nearest, a small Cathar female. He was flung back to the ground without her having touched him. It was then he noticed the lightsabers four of them wore and the pale white crystal on the brow of the fifth, a human female.

He had to be brave, he had to be strong, he had to protect his people from interlopers and murderers. He had only recently passed the rights of initiation into manhood. He couldn’t falter. He glared back in defiance.

“ _We mean you no harm._ ”

He blinked when the human female spoke his language.

“ _We have only simple questions. We feel the planet’s life force in this place; I believe you and your people do as well._ ” Kayla could tell by his expression that he did. She smiled and nodded.

“ _Why have you come to this place? Why have you gathered in such large numbers here?_ ” She translated Praven’s question.

The hunter looked at the red male with glowing yellow eyes and spikes instead of hair on his chin. “ _This place is sacred._ ” He finally answered.

“I figured as much,” Praven said looking toward the distant city.

“Does that change things?” Katzen asked.

“No, the ritual and the trappings must be destroyed, rendered harmless,” Kayla said.

Vuxoo rolled her eyes. “Then let’s do it. You burn them out, then we trash the place like we did Site 1. What do you care anyway after what they did to your people, Kayla?”

“That is Sith thinking, not Mandalorian,” Praven pointed out.

Vuxoo dropped her head a little ashamed. He was right. Yes, she was Sith but foremost she was Mandalorian and lived by a strict code of honor. She liked being around Praven; he helped her balance her Sith training with her Mandalorian ethics; foremost of that, there was no honor in harming non-combatants or those of lesser ability. The most honorable fight was against someone of equal or greater ability, to challenge one’s self.

“They did not do anything to my people; the Rakatan…”

Everyone turned when the hunter hissed. Kayla studied him carefully seeing anger and fear in his eyes. She watched him as she spoke. “They hunted the Sand People for slaves. She addressed the hunter. “ _Do your people have stories of the ancient times?_ ”

“ _We tell our children about when outsiders first came how they killed and enslaved us. Our seers and shaman were taken from us and tortured._ ” The hunter shook his head. “ _It is the same with all outsiders. So, we exact that treatment upon any we catch._ ”

Chasnur broke in. “ _Tell me about the Krayt Dragons_ ,” she translated.

“Chas,” Katzen nudged her brother. “Keep on track.”

“ _Once, before the burning days, the Krayt Dragons were the proud_ Duinuogwuin _and filled our skies.”_ As he spoke his eyes glowed with the joy the ancient story provoked. _“They flew on great wings and were beautiful gems soaring above. Their songs could be heard across the lands and filled us with peace and strength. The land was filled with water and green, growing things; food was plentiful.” He_ smiled at the childhood stories that were so vivid he could almost see them. _“Then the beasts came. The Rakatans_ ,” he spit the word. “ _What the beasts and their armies did to us was horror beyond horror. What they did to the_ Duinuogwuin _was worse than death._ Duinuogwuin _responded by burning all living things that walked the surface. Our seers had warned us of the_ Duinuogwuin’s _anger, and we retreated to the deep caves._ ” It didn’t miss his sharp hunter’s perception that the human female was stricken by his comments “ _You know the story_ ,” he said to Kayla.

She met his gaze. “ _I am the story._ ” She backed away and shape shifted.

Now his eyes opened wide and he staggered away in awe tripping over Katzen’s backpack. He continued to back away trying to avert his eyes. As many times he had heard the stories of the Duinuogwuin it had never occurred to him that the creatures were real and that they still existed and now one stood before him. He forced himself to look. She was immense, easily as large as any greater Krayt he had seen. Her scales were shimmering gold. She opened her great wings, which were where a Krayt’s forelegs would be, and gave herself a shake. The wings were each as long as her body with a thin, golden, leathery membrane stretched between the light bones. The urge to touch this creature of myth suddenly overcame his fear as Kayla settled onto her hunches, folding her wings and leaning on her fore talons. He stood and approached; she brought her head down to his level and let him lay his hand on her muzzle.

“ _Do you worship the life force of this planet that flows from this place?_ ” she asked.

“ _Yes, it is said that if we revere the life in this world’s heart, it will be healed and the green life and great waters will return._ ” He touched the hard scales that protected her under neck. “ _All Sand People come to this place at least once in their life. We are the keepers of this place._ ” He puffed his chest. “ _I am a hunter. I provide for the priests, the keepers, our families, and the pilgrims._ ”

“Oh, great,” Vuxoo shook her head. “We can’t destroy their temple.”

“ _The standing stones and tablets left here by the Beasts, are those part of your rituals?_ ” Kayla asked.

“ _No, those were destroyed by those who came here first. Priests purified The Mouth of any taint left by the Beasts._ ”

“Well, that makes it easy,” Chasnur smiled rocking back on his heels. “All we need to do is find the ritual itself.”

Katzen ducked into the tent and emerged with an ancient data pad.

“ _Have your priests ever found something that looks like this?_ ” Kayla asked.

The hunter shook his head. “ _Is it important?_ ”

“ _It has on it the ritual the Beasts used to extract the Force to power their Star Forge_ ,” Kayla explained. “ _It’s probably buried deep as was this one_ ,” she nodded at the data pad.

“ _Have you come because the land is healing?_ ” the hunter asked Kayla hopefully.

She shook her great head. “ _No. I have come so that the land can continue to heal. It will take many more millennia for the green life and great waters to return._ ” She shifted back into her human form. “ _We thank you for speaking with us. On my word as_ Duinuogwuin _, no outsiders will hear of this place._ ” She nodded at Praven.

The hunter fell asleep. When he woke, he was near a herd of Dewbacks. He couldn’t remember how he had gotten there or why he had fallen asleep. He’d had an odd dream about talking to a Duinuogwuin; he would take it up with a priest back at the village.

********

“Okay, so we need your most excellent noses to sniff out where to dig for the stinky relic,” Vuxoo said as the group moved their camp farther from the Sand People city.

“But we still have to do it in such a way that they don’t notice us mucking up their sacred site,” Katzen pointed out.

“We could get rid of the Sand People,” Chasnur scratched his jaw thoughtfully. “Could we use suggestion to get them all to leave, at least long enough to do our work?”

Vuxoo shook her head. “That is a lot of big suggestion.”

“Kayla could do it big,” he pointed out. “You’re good at big.”

“I suppose I could infuse a suggestion into the entire population but what sort of suggestion would make them all leave? Plus, there will be some who aren’t susceptible to Jedi suggestion.”

Praven smiled. “Earthquake.” He stopped and faced the group. “You did it on Tython to Revan’s tomb. Create a small earthquake, then suggest they all flee, um, south, until it passes. A real earthquake, even a small one, will encourage the strong minded to clear out as well.”

“That would work,” Katzen agreed. She looked expectantly at Kayla.

“Force suggestion must be very precise,” Praven pointed out. “Do you think you could do that without blowing up their brains?”

Kayla frowned.

“You did it to that spy of Arzanon’s without killing her,” Katzen pointed out. “Then teach us all how to do it on a large scale, Master.”

Kayla glowered at her Padawan. “I need to work on how to do this. You all get some rest.”

Once the others were in the tent resting, Kayla set up a fly to provide shade and sat down to meditate on how she would accomplish such a large-scale deception. She had never actually used the Force to influence someone’s action but she had been precise enough to manipulate the theory of Force suggestion and extract a specific memory from the bounty hunter and the Sand People hunter.

Praven joined her. “Those three fell asleep as soon as they laid down. I sense something bothers you.”

“I’m not sure how to word the suggestion,” Kayla admitted.

“I’ve never been wholly successful,” Praven admitted. “But from what I understand, it should be a suggestion; do not make it an order. Something like, ‘This is an earthquake, you should flee to safety.’ You said you altered the idea of Force suggestion to remove a specific memory; this should be easy for you.”

She frowned. “I wish I could practice on someone first.”

Praven suddenly brightened. “You have done it, lots of times. Whenever you’ve hidden yourself or disguised yourself using the Force, in essence you have been suggesting that people weren’t seeing you.”

That made sense to her. She had gotten around Corellia by shrouding herself in destitution. It never worked on stronger Jedi or Sith. “You’re right. Tonight?”

Praven nodded. “Tonight.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grab the goods and go.

Katzen stared up at the pale sky that was the arctic night and rubbed her hands to warm them. “At least it’s not hot,” she muttered.

Vuxoo stifled a laugh and it came out a snort. “You’re a Jedi, deal with it.”

“Shh,” Praven hissed and returned his attention to Kayla in dragon form.

She was lying silently on the ground with her wings spread maximizing her contact with the surface; she started to hum. Suddenly there was activity in what should have been the sleepy city. People rushed from their huts chattering. The ground began to rumble, slightly at first but quickly rose to a crescendo. The city dwellers began screaming, crying, and running.

“Go, now. Get de ritual. I’ll keep making ap-tershocks to keep dem away until you’re done,” Kayla ordered.

The other four took off running, augmenting their speed with the Force. The city was still emptying as they entered from the north headed for the ritual site in the center. No one seemed to notice them. Parents were grabbing up their children and running for safety as their structures began to sway and break. The elderly, sick, and slaves were left in the huts screaming in terror.

“You two have the noses to find the ritual,” Praven yelled as he slid to a halt catching Vuxoo’s arms. “We’ll try to help the trapped.”

“We’re what?” Vuxoo demanded.

“You heard me,” Praven growled dragging her toward a nearby collapsed hut with the cries of a woman from inside.

She started to argue then realized she didn’t have the scenting ability the two Cathars had so couldn’t help find the datapad. She bolted into the hut Praven held open and cut an astonished human slave free then pulled her out. When the woman looked at her before running for freedom, Vuxoo felt a wave of warmth and appreciation that made her step back. No one had ever expressed gratitude toward her; it was a good feeling, and she liked it. She and Praven moved to the next hut.

Katzen and Chasnur stopped at the edge of the ritual site; it was an area about 50 feet across with an altar in the middle. There were bones scattered about that indicated there had been human sacrifices. The two shuddered and began sniffing around. After finding one ritual at the last Belsavis site and the ritual at Tatooine Site 1, they had a general idea where it might be, the side of the site that pointed toward the middle of the triangle made by the three sites; they could guess it would be in the southern quadrant of the site.

The main quake ceased, leaving in its wake an eerie silence that seemed to drown out the cries of those who were trapped. Several minutes later, the earth began to tremble again, not so strongly but enough to be worrisome.

“Found it!” Chasnur yelled, his voice Force amplified. He and Katzen began digging. By the time Vuxoo and Praven arrived, Chasnur’s claws had hit something hard and he uncovered a console. Praven Force lifted the entire thing out of the hole and started moving it back out of the city toward where they had left Kayla.

Aftershocks continued for a while getting weaker and weaker as they hurried away.

“You brought the whole damned computer?” Kayla asked when the four arrived. She closed her wings and pushed herself up into a sitting position then shifted into human form.

“We had to move quickly,” Praven grumbled his response and dropped the console onto the sand. He heaved a deep breath. It was heavy and he had moved it a long way while running; he was tired.

“We have to move,” Vuxoo said. “They’re starting to return and we’re very close. I’ll take the console.” Using the Force, she lifted the console and started to move away from the Sand People city.

“Do you need help, Master?” Chasnur asked as Praven pulled himself shakily to his feet.

“No, I have the Force to help me.”

The five began moving away as quickly as possible with Katzen creating a wind to cover their tracks.

They were all tired and both suns were above the horizon when they finally stopped.

Vuxoo dropped the ancient console and sagged to the ground. “Force-schmorce, that was one of the most exhausting things I’ve ever done.”

Katzen knelt in front of the console. “It looks like the data spike is stuck in there.” She used a claw to reach into the opening. She could just touch the edge of the spike.

“Are you sure it’s the right data pad?” Praven asked.

“Now you ask,” Vuxoo sighed. “It damn well better be.”

Kayla was drinking water. “There’s one way to find out. Play it back.”

“We don’t have power for it,” Katzen said.

“That’s why we have the solar generator.” Chasnur hooked up the console and let it build up power before hitting the on switch. An alien alphabet appeared on the vid-monitor. “I think it says to do this,” he hit a button, “to open the file.”

“Yup, that’s the ritual.” Kayla responded to the series of lines and photos.

“Oops, I think they’re onto us,” Vuxoo sat up. They could all hear distant hooting and howling.

“I’ve got the console,” Kayla said. She switched off the console.

The five took off again using the Force to speed their passage and hide their trail.

“Keep going. I’ve got an idea.” Suddenly Kayla transferred transport of the console to Chasnur, shifted into dragon form, and head off at 90 degrees just high enough for her wings to clear the ground kicking up sand devils. She traveled a couple of miles before climbing to about 100 feet and heading back toward their pursuers.

There were about 20 Sand People mounted on Banthas with a Massiff in the lead. The creature had caught their scent. The group froze at the sight of the golden dragon. She glided lazily over them headed toward their city, as if she didn’t notice them.

The group was faced with a quandary, follow those who had desecrated their sacred site or follow this creature of prophecy which was headed for their sacred site. The latter won out and they turned around.

Kayla didn’t stop at the city but continued on until she was out of sight. She then took a wide loop back to meet up with the group. “That’ll keep them busy,” she suggested once she had shifted to human form. “Let’s get some rest then get out of here before they decide to come back. They’re using Massifs to track us.”

“But, Master, your scent is very strong. They might lose the trail at the point you broke off,” Katzen suggested.

“Possibly but I don’t think we should take that chance,” Vuxoo said breaking out the tent.

They all slept out the day, even Kayla took a “nap” after her strenuous day.

It was by the dimming evening light that they all stared at the console greedily guarding the data pad.

“So how do we get the damned data spike out?” Chasnur asked.

Kayla glared at the console; a burst of pale light flew from her crystal to the console and it exploded. “Like that.”

Katzen picked up the data pad and handed it to Kayla. “That’s two. Now for the third. Where is it?”

“The Dune Sea,” Praven said.

Once they decided the temperature had cool enough, the four secured their gear to Kayla, climbed aboard, and headed southeast. The route carried them back over the Sand People city; but Kayla just let that add to the mystique of her previous flyover.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A used-car salesman and being followed.

The route to Site 3 would take them over one of the more populated areas of Tatooine. When they landed after the first night’s travel, they walked into the Town of Fort Jayden.

They kept a low profile while buying supplies. Praven stopped and stared at a speeder dealership.

“Well, they aren’t Dewbacks,” Vuxoo said meandering over to study the bikes. “And won’t poop on you.”

A Jawa, excited at the prospect of customers, came bustling out of a shed chattering and indicating the bikes.

“That’s a lot of money for used bikes,” Chasnur told the little salesman. “Not to mention you’ve rebuilt them from who knows what.” He listened to the chatter of the Jawa. “Only if I can take it for a test drive into the desert and back. If it meets our needs, we’ll talk credits.” More chatter. “I’m sure there are other dealers who will have a better price and let me test drive it.” Chasnur started away. The others turned as if to leave.

The Jawa nearly jumped into Chasnur’s path and raised his hands in resignation.

“I’ll try that Korrealis,” Chasnur said pointing to one vehicle. He climbed in, switched it on, and drove it off the lot. The others stood by patiently waiting for him to return.

When he pulled back in and climbed out, Chasnur opened the engine compartment and inspected the work. “She seems adequate for our needs. We need two; this one and …” He went to another vehicle and popped the hood. He shook his head and checked out a third. “And this Czerka Runabout.” He glared menacingly at the price quoted. “That is ridiculous, 40,000 credits for the two and no more; and you have to throw in a clean up as well.”

They stood by while Chasnur bartered the Jawa down from 100,000 credits to 55,000 credits for the two vehicles, clean and fully fueled. The exchange was made, everyone was happy, and the five rode back to their hotel in their new rides.

“Not bad, Padawan,” Praven said as they secured the vehicles before going inside.

“But they only seat two and there’s five of us and our junk,” Katzen pointed out.

“They have storage compartments and there is space for a person to ride behind the two seats,” Chasnur pointed out.

“Shotgun!” Vuxoo shouted hopping up and down. “And I ride with Kayla.”

“Very well, you two will carry the gear,” Praven announced indicating Kayla and Vuxoo. “You two will take turns riding in the back while I drive.” He indicated Katzen and Chasnur then headed into the hotel.

********

Capt. Badur walked at attention two paces behind and to the left of Lord Arzanon as the Sith strode into the Mos Dray infirmary. A Sith apprentice, Bako Tel, walked at Arzanon’s right.

An obsequious doctor darted up bowing. “My Lord, how might we help you?”

“You have a Twi’lek in your care.” He flashed a holo of the bounty hunter. “I want to speak to her.”

“Yes, my Lord. Right this way, my Lord.” The doctor hurried ahead of the two.

Badur worked to unclench his jaw. He hadn’t wanted to accompany the Sith on this expedition, but he couldn’t say ‘no’ to it. His superiors sanctioned the Sith’s co-opting one of their officers and that was that. They’d been on the trail of the five Force users for a week. Arzanon had given Badur only 15 minutes for him and his company to pack their kit bags.

Now they were in this back-water gambling town looking for some idiot bounty hunter who had allegedly reported seeing Lord Praven and those with him. When they arrived to meet with her, they were told by her associates that she had been found unconscious and with amnesia and was at the city infirmary.

Now he stared at a Twi’lek sitting in a chair staring vacantly at them.

“Do I know you?” she asked of Arzanon’s glare.

“Yes,” Tel barked. He shot out a bolt of Force lighting that caused the woman to convulse and scream. He stopped when Arzanon slapped his hand aside.

Badur winced at the girl being inflicted with unnecessary pain even if she was an alien.

The doctor gasped and backed away but said nothing.

Arzanon lay his hand on her forehead and went silent for a long time. “It’s not there. She has no memory of accepting my bounty. No memory of seeing the traitors.” He spun on his heels and stalked out of the hospital.

“Amnesia doesn’t work that way,” Tel argued.

“Exactly, her memory was surgically erased.” Arzanon snapped.

“How do you do that?” Badur asked. “My Lord,” he hastily tacked on.

Arzanon stopped and half turned to the officer. “No one knows how to do that, not Sith not Jedi.”

“What now?” Apprentice Tel asked.

“I know where they were staying. We will check their holo records.” Arzanon led them to the hotel where the Twi’lek had reported the targets were staying.

They spent an hour trying to find someone on the Double Aces staff who could confirm the group of five had been there; they had no luck. On top of that, all the security holos had apparently malfunctioned during the days when the group would have been there. They scrutinized that were intact with no sign of the five.

The body of the day manager hit the floor after becoming the victim of Arzanon’s frustration.

“Might I suggest, my Lord, that we break up and look for someone who did business with them,” Badur offered uncertainly. He exhaled in relief when Arzanon nodded his agreement to the plan.

The three headed off in different directions to find someone who sold supplies to the group of five.

In Fistine, the mayor had told them the group of five had gone to some ruins farther south. They found evidence of two camps, and ran into a scavenger, Jimney, who said he saw the group go east, come back and go east again.

Badur had known about a Reclamation Service dig to the east. Only a handful of archaeologists were at the dig site when they arrived. Their commander told of the confrontation with Czerka and the destruction of the site. Arzanon had not been happy when no one could tell him the significance of this site and the ruins to the east. In Badur’s opinion, killing the head archaeologist accomplished nothing, much less jogging anyone’s memory.

Badur would have thought Arzanon would have been happy about the power of the Force in the area but all he did was complain about how it was interfering with his ability to track Force users.

That was when they got the call from the Twi’lek in Mos Dray saying she had followed one of them to the Double Aces. They travelled here as quickly as possible.

Now Badur was walking the dusty streets of a morally-questionable, Hutt, gambling city being watched from the alleys by murderers and thieves. He loosened his blaster and kept his hand on the grip. He ducked into a water dealer figuring they would need lots on this arid planet. The owner didn’t have any record of sales at that time or of the magnitude a group going into the deep desert would need. He gave Badur a list of larger water dealers. At the third store he went into, Badur found a sale of 150 gallons of water to be delivered to the Double Aces on the third evening before the equinox. The owner pointed to the holo of the tall, light-haired, human female as the agent he spoke to.

Badur hurried back to the Double Aces and found someone who remembered the shipments of water arriving at the hotel on the night the dealer delivered and which residents it was for. This source could also remember that there were shipments of food and all of it was packed up and gone before sunset. No one could say where they went.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A blast from the past.

The two vehicles didn’t cover the distance as efficiently as Kayla flying; they were restricted to passable routes. But they made decent time. They had to wear face veils and goggles to keep the sand out of their noses, mouths, and eyes. They traveled during daylight hours to be able to see where they were going.

When they stopped for the evening, Praven insisted that the two Padawans continue their training. He and Kayla were still working on their recognizing when the Force was directed at them. Vuxoo was now a more regular participant in such training sessions. They would also take turns sparring; Praven, Kayla, and Vuxoo forced the two Jedi Padawans to learn to react to Sith fighting techniques.

Kayla sometimes would talk about how she was able to use the Force on a massive scale. As she had learned to be more precise, she had also learned how she could be so broad in scope with it. It was this revelation she passed on to the others.

It took them six days to travel from Fort Jayden to another Hutt city, Gayampou, due to swinging wide to avoid an Imperial outpost.

They buzzed into Gayampou, dusty and road weary several hours before first sunset. They needed to stock up on supplies before the next leg, which would take them into the Western Dune Sea.

“Ienew, what are you doing here?” Vuxoo froze in her tracks and stared wide eyed at the Twi’lek Sith.

“Not to put too fine a point on it, looking for you two.” He pushed himself away from the cantina wall he was leaning against.

Praven and the twins immediately reached for their lightsabers. Kayla raised a calming hand.

Ienew chuckled. “I wouldn’t dare challenge Kayla. I know what she can do. I really didn’t expect to run into you here. I wanted to warn you that Arzanon is looking for all of you; he had a price put on all your heads; you three are declared traitors to the Emperor.”

“Do you know where he is?” Kayla asked.

“Last I heard, he was headed for Mos Dray. What the hell are you three up to?”

Kayla led the way to a secluded table where she, Vuxoo, and Praven could see all the doors. Under the cover of the cantina noise, she told Ienew about the Rakatan rituals.

Ienew leaned back expelling air in a rush. “If Arzanon gets his hands on something like that, kaboom, there goes the galaxy, not just the Republic.”

“Exactly, that’s what happened to the Rakatan’s Infinite Empire. I will not allow that to happen again,” Kayla growled.

“Well, two down one to go.” Ienew seemed relieved at that.

“On THIS planet,” Vuxoo said worried. When Ienew sat up with a questioning look, she explained. “We found and destroyed two of the sites on Belsavis. The archives there named Tatooine but intimated numerous other planets with ritual sites. This is only the beginning.” She spun a finger in the air indicating Tatooine.

“So, aren’t you someone’s apprentice?” Kayla asked. Praven was going to let her lead this conversation.

Ienew shrugged. “She’s your typical Sith asshole; seems to think I’m her slave, not her apprentice. She sent me to find you as a favor to get in good with Arzanon and the Dark Council. I’m sick and tired of people treating me like I’m nothing.” He grimaced angrily.

“How did you track us here?” Vuxooo asked.

“I didn’t track you here; I was on my way to meet with Arzanon when I overheard someone in Mos Espa saying you lot had rented speeders and were headed this way. I got my ship’s droid to pick me up there and drop me here. I’ve been waiting a couple of days.”

“Where is your master?” Praven asked.

Ienew glared. “I have no master.”

“He means your Sith bitch,” Vuxoo offered placing a calming hand on her friend’s arm.

“Oh, yeah, on Drumond Kaas sucking up to some Darth or other. You know what she did the first day I was her apprentice? She lies down, spreads her legs and goes, ‘service me.’ I mean, what… who…” He sputtered off in frustration and slammed his fist on the tabletop. He swore under his breath in Twi’lek for several minutes before taking a drink and calming down.

“Welcome to the gang,” Vuxoo clapped him on the shoulder. “The renegade, happy few.”

“If you found us here, Inquisitor Arzanon will find his way here. We best not linger. We leave in the morning.” Praven announced. “You will come with us.” He pointed his finger at Ienew. “Kayla, you take our new friend and your Padawan to get water. We’ll get food.” He paid the bar tender and led the group back outside.

The next morning, they drove out of the village; but just at the limits, Praven stopped and called Kayla over. “Erase every memory of our presence,” he told her.

Kayla sat down and became very still and silent for about 20 minutes. When she stood, she looked pale. “Done,” she announced and started to get back in the driver’s seat.

“Oh, no you don’t. You look like hell.” Vuxoo nudged her out of the way and got in behind the controls. The group, now six, took off again into the desert.

That evening, they camped on a ledge overlooking a canyon. Kayla watched Ienew as he sent a holo-message to the droid on his ship. She followed his gaze to a point in the darkening sky. There was a sudden pin-prick flash.

He looked over to her. “That does it. All ties severed.”

She patted his arm. “As Vuxoo said, welcome to the gang, you too are now one of the few, we loony few, this band of renegades.”

“I wonder if the Jedi would take me.” He was looking at Praven.

“Talk to him. I’m going hunting.” Kayla wandered away from the camp and shape shifted. She stepped off the ledge, caught a canyon updraft, and banked south toward the scent of dinner, a herd of Eopies.

Having eaten her fill, she returned to the camp site. When she landed, Ienew and Praven were the only ones still awake talking over the camp light. She burped, walked in a circle until she was properly oriented to true north and lay down.

The two males glanced over at the huge dragon.

“As I was saying, if you wish to study with the Jedi and it is an honest desire, I see nothing to stand in your way. Just keep in mind that their philosophy is as flawed as the Sith philosophy,” Praven stood to turn in to his sleeping bag.

“So that’s what she and Vuxoo mean by renegades,” Ienew stood as well.

“Yup,” the Sith answered. “I’ve come to deeply respect Master Kayla’s view of the Force. The Force can’t be ruled, and it can’t be controlled. It can be channeled and worked with. It is powered by emotions, but emotions should not power it.”

“I know,” Ienew agreed. “I listened to her and I survived Korriban and Lord Aphrodesia.”

“That and you are innately very strong with the Force. Good night.” Praven crawled into his sleeping bag.

Ienew followed suit.

“Rise and shine all you slug-a-beds,” Kayla’s roar startled the lot out of their slumber just as Tatoo I was creeping up to the horizon. She shifted to human form and began packing gear into her speeder trunk. “Chop, chop, let’s get moving.”

“What’s the hurry?” Chasnur asked peckishly. He’d been startled from a delightful dream.

“Imps, about 20 kilometers northeast, headed this direction. Up and at-um. Katzen, you ensure there is no trace of the camp left.”

That got the group up and moving. Within 15 minutes, the camp was packed up and they were on their way.

“Are there really Imps coming this way?” Katzen asked from the back cubby of the speeder.

“Probably just a patrol or something, but I’m not willing to stick around to find out,” Kayla answered.

“I had hoped the life of a fugitive was behind me,” the Cathar moaned looking back and trying to keep their dust trail down.

“So why were you a fugitive?” Vuxoo asked.

“Armed robbery, extortion, grift…”

“But Chasnur said he worked for Czerka.”

“That was before we worked for the Hutt on Nar Shadaa. Besides, where do you think he learned it? Oh, my GOD, is that a Krayt?”

Kayla glanced back. “A greater Krayt,” she explained.

“He’s chasing us,” Katzen announced trying to control her fear.

“I guess we intruded on his territory.” Kayla answered and increased their speed. As she pulled up beside Praven, she pointed back and accelerated to full speed.

The two speeders out-ran the Krayt Dragon then slowed to a speed that wouldn’t use so much power.

“Just imagine, thousands of years ago, that was a huge ocean with waves lapping lazily at this shore lined with tropical trees,” Katzen said wistfully. “What I would give to be able to go for a swim right now.”

Kayla chuckled. “Such a romantic. This sea was more often than not very angry and full of very large, very hungry predatory sea life. Besides, even if it was all water, for us the problem would be worse: a huge expanse lacking in potable water with very few places to touch land.”

“At least it would be a different color; everything’s brown,” Vuxoo groused. “So, do you think we lost those Imps?”

“I don’t sense them anymore.”

“Maybe that Krayt ate them,” Ienew suggested.

“We have two more hours before Tatoo I sets. Shall we continue on?” Praven asked keeping matters practical.

“About 20 miles that way we could camp in the lee of the continental shelf,” Chasnur suggested looking at the map.

“Where is this Site 3?” Ienew asked as they got back into the speeders.

“About 1,700 miles that way,” Kayla pointed toward the middle of the Western Dune Sea.

“How far is Anchorhead?” Katzen asked scrambling into her place in the back of the speeder.

“About 10,000 miles that way.” Kayla pointed in generally the same direction. “There’s this trench between there and here; we have to go that way to get around it.” She pointed south. “Doing that will take us about 1000 miles out of the way

When the oceans had dried up, they left salt in the seabed; nothing lived well on the old ocean floor. Even moisture farmers avoided the old seas. Some hardier beasts had evolved to survive there; others merely migrated across. Site 3 was on a plateau, which had once been an island.

When they made camp that first night on the seabed, Kayla flew back to ensure no one had followed them. Once she felt assured of that, she returned to the camp to rest for the night.

Praven was awake and indicated they walk away from the camp. “Kayla, I sense something – duplicitous about Ienew. It concerns me. I know you were friends on Korriban, but…”

“Ienew has always been at odds with his former slave existence and his new Sith status,” she explained.

He glanced back at the sleeping forms. “I hope you’re right.”

“I do too. Good night, Praven.”

********

Two days later, they were cruising along the rim of the Caldwell Trench when a skyhopper passed overhead. They stopped and watched. It circled back over them twice before heading back toward the continent.

“That’s not good,” Chasnur muttered.

“No, it is not,” Praven said. “Let’s keep moving. We still have a long way to go to get around this; and, no, Kayla, you aren’t flying us!”

“I didn’t say anything,” she said innocently as she shifted her speeder into gear.

That night they found an overhang under which to camp and kept their lighting low.

“So, what do we do if this Inquisitor Sith and his cronies find us?” Katzen asked.

“If he insists upon it, we fight,” Vuxoo answered frowning. “I am enjoying my freedom from the Sith and have no real desire to end up back under some psychotic asshole’s thumb.”

“Considering you, and by association me, are now all labeled traitors, I don’t think he will give us that option,” Ienew suggested. “Chas, keep your saber up; when in the presence of the enemy, never lower it.” He immediately attacked.

Chasnur responded quickly blocking the attack and counter attacking as he constantly moved.

“You have weapons other than your saber,” Praven prompted.

“How far are we from Site 3?” Katzen asked taking a drink of water.

“My guess is about 800 miles if we could go straight. It should be a straight shot of about 900 miles once we get around the Caldwell Trench,” Katzen said checking the map. “That’s the former island.”

“What if someone is living there?” Ienew asked blocking a rock Chasnur was Force-throwing at him.

“We work around them,” Vuxoo explained. “Unless they have excavated the site and found the ritual and are trying to use it. Then we kill them and destroy everything.”

“That seems like a waste. I mean that ritual could be very useful,” Ienew said pressing Chasnur.

“It is an abomination which strips a planet of its life Force,” Kayla growled. “You think Tatooine is lifeless now? If the Rakatans had succeeded, it would be less habitable than its moon; its atmosphere and any arable land would have been sucked away.”

“How do you know that?” Ienew asked.

“Because that’s what happened to Vesh-H43. That was the Esh-kha homeworld once, Skrak-sheh.”

“Vesh-H43 is nothing but an asteroid field.” At Praven’s astonished tone, everyone stopped and stared at Kayla.

“Why do you think the Esh-kha wanted to eradicate the Rakatans? Why do you think my race would not allow them to perform the ritual on Tatooine even after we turned it into this giant desert?” Kayla gestured at the sand and rocks that surrounded them. “Tatooine can recover from what we did to it. Vesh-H43 cannot recover from what the Rakatans did to it.”

Katzen sat down with a thump and stared at the dirt. “What would have happened if Lord Mashen had succeeded?”

Kayla sat beside her Padawan. “He did succeed. You saw what happened; however, without the power of the full ritual, he couldn’t control and hold Belsavis. If we hadn’t been there to help, Belsavis would have broken free and destroyed Mashen before he could leave the planet. However, Mashen could have been in a population center when that happened; there would have been untold casualties.”

“What happened to Vesh-H43?” Vuxoo asked.

“The Rakatans bound Skrak-sheh to their star forge; they contained it long enough for the planet to lose cohesion and break apart. Once Skrak-sheh broke free of the star forge, it destroyed everything and everyone in its path.”

“So where is Skrak-sheh now?” Ienew asked.

Kayla shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. It no longer had a planet in which to reside. Maybe it took control of a Rakatan ship and went in search of a new home. Maybe it just dissipated into space.”

“The Force binds all living things together,” Praven said softly; he shook his head sadly. “Without the Force, the planet shattered.”

“Well, it’s one way to get rid of your enemies,” Chasnur said. Everyone looked at him shocked at the sentiment. “Of course, it leaves you with nothing to have conquered, so what’s the point?”

“Power,” Kayla answered.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betrayal

The others were asleep when Kayla heard the skyhopper again. She slipped away from the campsite and shape shifted. She waited for it to pass over again and launched. She caught a wing in her teeth and dove to the bottom of the trench taking the skyhopper with her.

She was about two miles below the rim when she dropped the skyhopper on the floor of the trench and ripped one wing off. “Come out!” she ordered and waited.

An imperial pilot was first to exit. He nervously stepped away from the vessel and was followed by a young Sith lord. Kayla could smell the fear on both; but the Sith held his head up and swaggered.

“What is the meaning of this?” He demanded igniting his lightsaber.

“You are p-hollowing us,” Kayla told him. “Who are you?”

The Sith stood taller. “I am Bako Tel, apprentice to Lord Arzanon. You are a traitor to the Empire and now my prisoner.” Tel jumped when his lightsaber flew from his hand and smashed against the rock wall of the trench.

Kayla’s lips curled away from her massive fangs and she chuckled, a low huh-huh-huh. “Don’t bring a pea-shooter to a blaster p-hight.” She used the Force to blow up the skyhopper. She used a talon to sift through the debris and ensure the communications equipment were destroyed. “Hab a nice day.” She spread her wings.

“You can’t leave us here,” Tel shouted, now blatantly afraid. “We have no food or water.” He stepped back as the huge creature loomed over him.

“You should hab taught ob dat be-pore going into de deep desert. Shit happens.” She spread her wings and launched off rising up out of the trench.

At the rim, she landed, shifted, and walked back into the camp to find Praven waiting. “What happened? I felt a disturbance in the Force.”

“You’re good. I ran into a couple of Arzanon’s pawns. We had a talk about their following us in a skyhopper. They promised not to do it again.”

“Did you kill them?” He asked worried.

“No, but they’ll wish I had. How long until first sunrise?”

“About three Tatooine hours.”

“I want to clear the trench before the end of the day. I expect Arzanon to be hot on their trail.” She started heating up something for the others to eat.

Tatoo I was just cresting the horizon when they set off again. No mention was made of the two Kayla had marooned in the trench.

As Kayla had planned, they came to the end of the Caldwell Trench and turned back northeast toward the distant mountain that had once been an Island. They had about 900 miles to go and expected to reach the Island late afternoon to evening of the next day.

That night, Kayla returned to the trench to see what had happened to the two men. They were gone. Arzanon had found and rescued them. There was no sign of a camp nor could she sense the presence of a Force sensitive. She returned to the camp just after first sunrise.

“Where were you, master?” Katzen asked as Kayla landed and shapeshifted.

“Making sure we aren’t being followed.” Kayla said helping to pack up the camp.

“Were we?” Ienew asked.

“Nope,” she said. “Let’s get moving, folks.”

As predicted, about one hour before the second sunset, they saw the rise upon which Site 3 sat. Kayla suddenly stopped her speeder and got out.

Being in the lead, Praven stopped when Chasnur indicated. He backed up. “You sense something?”

Kayla nodded. “Wait here.” She shapeshifted and took to the air. About an hour later, she returned. “It’s a Krayt nest.”

“What?” Ienew asked a little unnerved.

“A nest. There are hundreds of Krayt Dragons all around the site with an ancient elder in their midst. I think… I need to check something. Let’s get to the base.” Kayla scrambled back into the speeder and took the lead.

When she stopped, they were about five miles off the end of the shelf on which the former island was perched. They could hear the calls and roars from the dragons living around the site.

“What do they eat out here?” Chasnur wondered. He had seen no evidence of anything that might resemble being edible since they started crossing the ancient ocean floor.

“Sand worms mostly is my guess,” Kayla said. “I need to meditate, so everyone, keep it down.” She got comfortable in the shade of one of the speeders and went into a trance.

Something was there, it was a flicker, a trace, a dim light. Her consciousness zeroed in on it. It belonged to an ancient mind; it was a spark of a memory of being free of the earth. It was similar to her own memories from her infancy in the nest back on Sanctuary – hazy, full of emotion, a photographic flash in time.

She gasped and started, opening her eyes.

“Are you alright, Master?” Katzen asked looking into Kayla’s shocked eyes.

“One of them remembers.” The words choked her up and nearly brought tears to her eyes.

“That would mean that Krayt would have to be at least 20,000 years old.” Vuxoo looked toward the crest of the mountain, their goal. “Is that possible? None of your people are that old.”

“It means one of the original Krayts retained its memory and passed it along. It means they might be able to return, to heal from the damage done. The Sand People were right.” Kayla stood.

“Easy now, don’t let your emotions rule your good judgment,” Praven warned. “If it isn’t an anomaly, there would be evidence of a racial memory passed from that elder to its offspring.”

Kayla took a deep breath. “You’re right. I need to delve further. It was such a shock.” She got comfortable and began searching for others in the distant flight – she still thought of the land-bound Krayts in terms of her people – who might share the elder’s memory.

The others were shocked when she actually started crying. Katzen was ready to offer solace when Kayla beamed. “They share the memory. They are healing. They remember their heritage.” She pushed the tears away.

“That’s all wonderful and good but we have to get in there and destroy the ritual site. How are we going to do that with hundreds of Krayt Dragons that want to eat us?” Chasnur crossed his arms across his chest and glared at Kayla.

“Greater Krayts by the look of them,” Vuxoo added lowering the binoculars.

“It’s getting better all the time. First it was big cats, snakes, and other such. Then it was the Imperial Reclamation Service and Czerka. Then it was a city of Force-worshiping Sand People. Now it’s a massive herd of Krayt Dragons.” Katzen groaned. “What do we do?”

“Go home?” Ienew asked a little hopefully.

“We can’t go home. We have to destroy the ritual and trappings.” Vuxoo reminded him.

“But no one can use it with those Krayt Dragons all over the place,” he pointed out.

“Those Krayts are in danger as long as the site exists. One aerial bombardment and they’re gone. The site means nothing if it isn’t useful. We leave the speeders and our gear here. We fly in via me.” Kayla shapeshifted and lowered herself for the others to climb on.

“Why?” Chasnur asked giving Katzen a boost up.

“Dey won’t attack me, I hope.”

When she was circling overhead, the creatures on the ground raised their heads and began roaring and chirping. Some hissed and hunched up ready to defend their mates and nests. They could see piles of sand that each held one egg with the female keeping it in the shade – not too hot during the day and not too cold during the night. Juveniles retreated to the safety of their parents, even if those parents were protecting eggs and hatchlings.

Kayla circled slowly down toward the center of the nesting grounds where a large elder sat up among three plinths. It barked once, and the entire site fell silent. When she landed, Kayla lowered her head and touched noses with the ancient male then allowed him to sniff along her neck and the five on her back.

It took every inch of their Force training to remain calm as the huge head with serrated teeth passed them and then studied them through one eye.

“Dismount, slowly, and use de P-horce to pull de plint’s out. Send dem ober to de speeders; we’ll destroy dem later. Don’t make any sudden moobs,” Kayla said in as gentle a voice as she could muster. “Ienew, wait,” she said once they were all on the ground.

The others headed toward the plinths while Ienew lingered.

“Why do I hear a beeping?” she asked him, lowering her head to put her eye at his level.

“Beeping? What do you mean?” He asked confused.

“I smell p-ear. Ip I smell p-ear, so does he and he won’t react well to it. Why do I hear a beeping coming prum your robes?” she put steel in her voice and her eye narrowed. “Gib it to me, now!”

Ienew reached into his robes and pulled out a small device with a light blinking on it. The beep was almost impossible for him to hear.

“Arzanon is using you to track us.” She growled. “How could you? No don’t answer; dere is no answer udder dan you are a pawn ob de Emperor. Dere is no place wit us por you. Praben!”

When Praven trotted up, he saw the transponder in Ienew’s hand. His red complexion darkened.

“Destroy de tracker,” Kayla said. She then grabbed Ienew in her mouth and took off.

Praven used the Force to reduce the transponder to dust then returned to help extricate the plinths.

“What was that about?” Katzen asked nervously.

“The Twi’lek was a spy for Lord Arzanon; he’s been helping the Imperials to track us. Get back to work; we should finish this before Master Kayla returns.”

Vuxoo froze and stared at Praven; slowly her expression of surprise morphed into one of rage. “If she doesn’t kill the lying bastard, I will.”

“Focus on our task at hand. Whether we win or lose the upcoming battle, this ritual site and the ritual itself must be destroyed.”

“The Sith will want to build a temple or something here,” Katzen said. “What would happen to all these Krayt Dragons?”

“That is why we mustn’t lose the fight,” Chasnur growled through grit teeth.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Creating a devastating sand storm.

Kayla held Ienew gently in her mouth; she would adhere to Praven’s wish that she not wantonly murder, at least in this case. Ienew had been her friend on Korriban; his betrayal angered her. She would not allow it to go unpunished; but sometimes there were worse things than death.

She saw sand kicked up by landcraft in the distance. She flew low and dropped Ienew about 200 feet above the ground. She knew he could use the Force to break his fall; and this location put him in the path of the advancing cadre. She then flew to altitude and ascertained that a regiment-sized host was headed toward Site 3. She banked away and returned to the site.

“Where’s Ienew?” Vuxoo asked.

“By now telling his master where we are and what we’re up to,” Kayla said. “Arzanon has what looks to be an Imperial regiment wit’ him and I sensed a large number ob Sit’.”

“How will we fight them?” Katzen asked nervously.

“You won’t; I will.” She moved through the Krayts to the edge of their nesting grounds, rose on her hind legs with her wings spread, and began gathering the Force.

“Go big, or go home,” Vuxoo muttered with a smile and returned to extricating the last of the plinths.

They all paused when all the Krayts began humming.

“Do you feel it?” Praven asked the two Padawans.

“It’s… There’s so much Force flowing through me,” Katzen said somewhat alarmed looking at her arms. “It almost feels like the wind; it’s movement is so strong.”

“It’s this place,” Vuxoo noted. “It’s like on Belsavis where we found Manshen. You two need to sniff out the ritual.” She nodded at the two Cathars.

“You only love me for my olfactory organs.” Chasnur mocked insult then gave the Mando a toothy grin.

“We can all search; use the Force,” Praven prompted.

Kayla was elated when she heard the Krayts humming in harmony with her and her crystal, but she maintained her focus. The sand around the site began to stir and swirl as a zephyr turned to a breeze, to a wind, to a gale. More sand and more wind picked up spurred by the Force until there was a towering wall of sand several kilometers tall and hundreds wide and deep. The power coursed through her as she pushed the sandstorm toward the approaching attackers. It picked up speed and power of its own accord as it moved away from the mountain.

********

Arzanon was in a transport walker interrogating Ienew when his pilot announced that a massive sandstorm was headed their way.

“Where did it come from?” Arzanon snarled. “The weather service did not mention one.” He looked over his driver’s shoulder to see the telltale wall of an approaching sandstorm. “It won’t stop us,” Arzanon announced. “Use instruments, get us to this site before the traitors destroy everything.”

“This is Kayla’s doing,” Ienew told his Lord uncertainly.

“Nonsense,” roared Bako Tel. “No one can influence the weather that significantly.”

“Lord Arzanon, you were on Korriban when Kayla blew up Naga Sadow’s temple, when she blasted a hole in the rock that was 100 meters wide and two kilometers long. You know as well as I the power that she wields. I’m telling you this storm is her doing.”

Arzanon glared at Ienew. “We will not allow her pitiful games to stop us from taking her and the other traitors into custody and seizing the power of that place for the Emperor.”

The walker rocked and shuddered as the leading edge of the sandstorm hit them. Arzanon hid his uncertainty at the speed with which the storm had arrived. Stabilizers kicked in and the ride steadied out.

The interior of the walker went dark. Everyone, Sith and soldier, fell silent in the dimness of the emergency lights. The only noise was the sound of sand battering the metal exterior and the grind of the engines and gears moving the legs.

“We’ve switched to emergency back-up power to give more thrust to the engines,” the driver reported.

“We’ve lost Walker 5,” the navigator announced.

“What do you mean lost?” Arzanon asked angrily.

“They just went off the radar.” The navigator looked out the forward windows nervously when the walker tilted precariously. All that was visible was the lack of sunlight; it was impossible to penetrate the dense sand beast. “We just lost Walker 10. I think it was knocked over and has been buried.”

“That quickly?” Ienew let slip. He had spent a lot of years on Tattoine and been through countless sandstorms. This beast was something new, unnatural.

Suddenly there was only the noise of the sand buffeting the walls of the Walker. “We’ve lost power, my Lord,” the driver announced.

“Then we continue on foot,” Arzanon announced. He started toward the hatch when everything suddenly was tumbling and rolling. Anyone not secured to their seat was thrown about. After a few minutes, the rolling stopped. It was evident the Sith where holding the vehicle in place.

“Everyone out,” Arzanon announced.

“May I suggest…” Ienew started.

“No, you may not! Now get your men out of this death trap and formed up to continue on foot.” Arzanon found the hatch and popped it.

The scream of the wind drowned out any sound. It eddied around and rushed into the walker, quickly starting to fill it with sand.

As Ienew scrambled out, he created a bubble of protection. He shuddered as he watched a soldier, not protected, collapse from choking on sand and almost immediately be buried, maybe alive. He indicated soldiers cover their mouths with something and hoped he would be able to hold the sphere of calm indefinitely. The bubble didn’t prevent the noise, so he had to use hand signals.

It seemed like hours as the group tried to advance, and their numbers grew ever smaller. Ienew held the bubble but disaster struck when the sand fell from beneath his feet. He tried to regain his footing and saw that the entire company of soldiers had almost immediately been lost to the storm. He could barely see Arzanon ahead of him.

He was up to his thighs in sand and it was getting deeper and deeper very quickly. He lost sight of everyone and found himself alone in a dark world of noise and tiny stinging rocks. He tried to use the Force to help break free and keep going but he felt his strength fail. He felt the crushing weight of sand covering him and trying to smother him. His last conscious thought was that he would die out here alone and no one would ever know, and no one would ever find him. Perhaps he could sustain a small pocket of air, though to what avail he didn’t know.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giving the gift of the Force and battle to protect the nest.

Kayla had sent the sandstorm off to do its job; Vuxoo found the data pad containing the ritual and destroyed it along with the other two. Now the five stood at the edge of the nesting grounds watching what they could see of the storm as it disappeared over the horizon.

“So now what?” Chasnur asked.

“We ensure no one is lept to harm dis colony ob Krayt Dragons,” Kayla said. She faced him. “Well I should ensure no one is lept to harm dis colony. You all can go back to Anchorhead and relax.”

“Hell, no!” Vuxoo shook her head adamantly. “We are in this with you all the way.”

Kayla chuckled at Katzen’s crestfallen expression toward Vuxoo’s announcement.

“We stay,” Praven agreed.

“So, what can we expect?” Chasnur asked.

“There is a very good chance the storm immobilized their walkers forcing them to continue on foot. As of three years ago, the Empire didn’t have sand-proof troop walkers,” Vuxoo said. “If they were smart, they stayed inside the walkers through the duration of the storm.”

Praven shook his head. “No, they didn’t; I felt the death of a number of Sith.”

Vuxoo took a deep breath. “Ienew got what he deserved for his betrayal of comrades.”

“What are they doing?” Katzen asked when the dragons began making a rumbling noise.

“Dey’re purring. An egg is hatching,” Kayla turned and led the way through the dragons, adding her own rumbling purr.

Several dragons parted to allow her access to the nest. The parents and the elder were expectantly watching a single egg, which was rocking as a scratching noise came from inside.

“We could help,” Katzen offered.

“No,” Praven stopped her. “The infant must do this itself.”

The rumbling built to a crescendo when the first crack appeared, and a bit of shell fell away. When a small, bony, head popped out, the entire population let out a joyful roar.

Katzen giggled when the baby dragon squeaked. “It’s so tiny. How will it survive?”

“Mom and Pop will see to dat,” Kayla explained. She lowered her huge head to touch noses with the tiny creature as several other dragons had done. She stood still unusually long. “Remember,” she said then headed back to the edge of the nest.

“Remember what?” Katzen asked. “What did you do?”

“I shared my memories ob be’por de burning.” Kayla sat on her haunches and watched the horizon again.

“Is that wise?” Praven asked.

“Ip dey are to heal, yes. Dey might neber p-lie again but dey could relearn to channel de P-orce.”

“You gave a greater Krayt Dragon baby the knowledge of how to wield the Force?” Vuxoo was terrified at the prospect.

“Yep.”

“So, how do they feed the little one?” Katzen asked looking back toward the nest.

“De mom will regurgitate, den pop will, while udder members ob de nest hunt.” Kayla swung her head toward several dragons running off into the desert.

“I thought Krayts were solitary,” Chasnur said.

“Dey are, but not dis group. Dey remember and hold to de society ob de p-light.”

“Let’s set up a camp; we’ll be here for a while,” Praven prompted.

********

Once the noise of the sandstorm subsided, Captain Badur opened the hatch to his walker and looked around. There was no evidence of the nine other walkers that had been carrying the regiment. “Try to signal for aid,” he told the driver and ordered his company to exit.

He had heard Arzanon’s order to exit and continue on foot. He figured that would be suicide and had disobeyed orders. As he stood on the featureless sand, he realized how right he had been. Suddenly he saw a red hand stick up out of the sand and rushed to grab it.

His men fell to their knees and began digging. Arzanon’s head appeared and he gasped and sputtered. There was a blast of Force and the Sith was clear. He looked around at the nothing then his eyes fell on Badur.

“How did you survive?” he asked.

“I beg your forgiveness, my Lord, but we stayed in the walker,” Badur sounded braver than he felt.

Arzanon sighed. “For once I am glad someone disobeyed my orders.” He fixed his eyes east. “We continue from here on foot. Ensure your men have all the supplies they can carry. We will not get help this far out.” He began casting about hoping to find some other signs of life.

He hurried to a spot and blasted the sand away and pulled up the Twi’lek Sith.

Ienew gasped and coughed up sand. It took awhile before he could focus on his savior. “My Lord, I thought I would die.”

“Not yet, young apprentice. You used the Force well to give yourself some time.”

“How many others have survived?” Ienew asked sucking the Force into him as he had blessed air.

“One company.”

Badur and his men emptied the walker of everything they could carry, especially water and ammunition. He then formed them up and reported to Arzanon that they were ready.

“How far?” Arzanon asked Ienew.

“My best guess is 100 miles due east.” Ienew pointed and started walking.

Arzanon smiled at the anger flowing off his youngest apprentice. It would serve him well. He fell in step beside the Twi’lek and the company followed behind.

“As soon as my ship comes into range, I will order them to open fire on this nest,” Arzanon explained. “We can easily take care of what is left.”

“Yes, my lord,” Ienew agreed.

********

Kayla had been lying stretched out on the sand for almost two days. Her leaping to her feet and launching into the air startled her friends and brought rumbles of uncertainty from the Krayt Dragons. They watched her climb straight up out of sight.

She sensed the approach of an Imperial Star Destroyer. She could sense murder rippling through the Force like a snake under the sand. She could survive a short time in the thin upper atmosphere; she wouldn’t need long.

She saw the vessel moving into low orbit; she guessed she was at about 100,000 feet and the ship was about 50,000 above her. She started humming, her crystal vibrating in harmony. The blast of Force shot through the intervening space and the destroyer blew apart. She steadied her spinning head and began her descent.

When she touched down, she stumbled and fell over. She pushed herself onto her chest and took a deep breath.

“What was that about?” Praven asked when she landed.

“Keeping de upcoming battle ph-air,” she explained flatly. “Arzanon is nearly here.”

“Master, are you all right?” Katzen asked concerned at the sloppy landing. She gasped at the site of debris burning as it hit the atmosphere.

“Just a little tired,” Kayla curled her neck so that her head was over her shoulders. “Gib’ me a couple ob minutes and I’ll be all right.”

“I take it you saw Arzanon while you were coming in?” Vuxoo asked.

“Yep, about hap a day’s trabel out. Ienew is wit him.”

“I know, I felt it,” Vuxoo growled glaring in the direction Kayla was looking.

“What about the hatchlings?” Katzen asked nervously looking back at the burgeoning brood.

“I took care ob dat.” Kayla jerked her head toward the sky and the debris was catching fire as it rained into the atmosphere. “I know you ph-elt it, Katzen. Arzanon had called in a ship por an air strike on de nest. Dere will be no air strike.”

“Yes, Master, I did feet their deaths.” Katzen looked back at a couple of hatchlings learning to walk. “Is it wrong of me to be glad?”

“Murder of the helpless is pure evil; there is no honor in it.” Vuxoo lay a hand on Katzen’s shoulder. “It is up to the rest of us to protect those who cannot protect themselves. I don’t think you are glad of the deaths of those on the destroyer; that’s not in your nature. I think you are glad that the hatchlings are safe.”

Katzen smiled at Vuxoo. “You sound more and more like Master Praven and Master Kayla and less like a Sith every day.”

Vuxoo snorted in mock derision and strode off to gear up for a fight.

“You are in no condition to fight.” Praven studied Kayla critically. “You gather your strength. We’ll head out and meet them away from the nest.” He signaled the other three to follow him and set off towards the on-coming danger.

Kayla was about to shift into a meditative state to restore her energy when she felt one of the Krayts lie down beside her. The young female began to hum. Two more Krayts lay down beside her, one wrapping its neck around hers. Soon it seemed the entire nest was humming.

Among dragons, there are “songs” for healing, mourning, encouragement, and celebration. The memory passed down by the ancient seemed to include these. Kayla relaxed and let the song flow through her filling her with strength and energy. She became so relaxed her consciousness drifted and touched the thoughts of the young female that started the song.

The female knew that Kayla was trying to help them, and sensed Kayla would need their help to protect the nest. It wasn’t thoughts of words but more the feeling of trust and an urgency to protect the hatchlings. As Kayla sucked the Force into her like a thirst-deprived man, she didn’t notice some of the older Krayts hurrying away from the nest and diving into the sand.

When she finally felt rejuvenated and ready to join the fight, she saw that only the juveniles, young adult dragons, and the one ancient were left. She heard blaster fire in the distance and lept into the air to respond.

********

Praven crested a dune and faced Arzanon, Ienew, and an Imperial company of about 82 men led by the guard officer from Mos Rai.

“Traitors!” Arzanon ignited his blade and lept across the space between himself and Praven.

Vuxoo launched herself at Ienew howling epithets in Mandalorian.

Chasnur and Katzen followed Vuxoo. The front line of the company dropped to one knee and the first two ranks opened fire. Katzen and Chasnur could only use their sabers to deflect the blaster fire. Neither had enough experience to do two things at once as they had seen the others do, but they could keep the soldiers from firing on Praven and Vuxoo.

It was this stalemate that Kayla came into. It was obvious that everyone was tiring. She couldn’t get a clear shot to use fire on the company of soldiers. She was preparing to land when on the flanks of the company, the sand erupted. Two Krayts reared up roaring then brought their open maws down on the company.

Kayla let out a roar and more Krayts rose out of the sand to the side and behind the company of soldiers. She spun and shot a wave of Force at Arzanon knocking him off his feet. She reached out with her fore talon and grabbed Ienew.

“Betrayer,” she growled.

“Put him down, he’s mine!” Vuxoo ordered.

Obligingly, Kayla dropped the Twi’lek and turned to see Praven drive his light saber into Arzanon.

There was silence except for the crackle and hiss of two lightsabers as Ienew and Vuxoo fought. Vuxoo cried out in agony when Ienew struck her right arm. The lightsaber flew into her left hand and with a back swing, struck Ienew in the neck. His head rolled across the sand, a look of shock forever frozen on his face.

The Krayts backed away as Kayla walked forward and looked down at the sole survivor, the captain.

“I die,” he told her. “I… I only did… what I thought… was right.”

********

“Are you going to be all right?” Chasnur asked.

Kayla looked over her shoulder at the nesting grounds. “Yes.”

“So, what are you going to do while we’re gone?” Katzen asked.

“For one, ensure the bodies can be found so they can be properly repatriated. For another, ensure this site is safe, _in perpetuity_.” Kayla said helping to pack up the camping gear.

“How do you plan to do that?” Vuxoo asked. She sat on one of the speeders, her injured arm immobilized.

Kayla shrugged. “I’ll think of something. I’ll join you when I’m done.”

“Or, we’ll come back and get you if we find anything,” Praven stuck out his hand smiling.

She accepted the handshake then pulled him into a hug. “Try to make it someplace cooler, like Hoth.”

That suggestion met with groans.

“If they are your descendents, how come they aren’t bothered by the heat and you are?” Katzen asked.

“Because they don’t do this.” Kayla let loose with a blast of fire.

Chasnur scoffed. “That’s a chemical reaction not fire in the belly.”

Kayla shrugged with a smile. “They’ve had a chance to adapt. I haven’t.”

The speeders were loaded with Katzen and Chasnur at the controls.

“Be well,” Kayla put her hands together and bowed, “and may the Force serve you well.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End, but not of Kayla’s stories.  
> Thanks to all who have read this series of stories. I hope you have enjoyed reading them as much as I've enjoyed writing them. I'm working on the next installment, so keep watching.


End file.
